Friday, May 15, 2015

Burundi coup's deputy leader recognizes failure

A deputy coup leader said on Thursday that their attempt against Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza had failed, the Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported.

"Personally, I recognize that our movement has failed. We were faced with an overpowering military determination to support the system in power," Gen. Cyrille Ndayirukiye said.

On Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Godefroid Niyombare, a former head of Burundi's National Intelligence, announced that he had overthrown Nkurunziza, his government and the parliament.

The coup attempt took place when the president had gone to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to attend an extraordinary summit of the East African Community on Burundi's political stand-off.

Nkurunziza, who returned to his country on Thursday, called on soldiers who are still behind the coup plotters to "surrender."

"I thank security and defense forces who didn't join coup plotters," he told Burundi National Radio in a phone interview.

The coup attempt followed a 15-day protest against a third term bid by Nkurunziza, during which at least 20 people were killed.

Burundi is to hold general elections in May and June this year. 

  Xinhua - china.org.cn  
  15/5/15
--
-

1 comment :

  1. Burundi coup apparently fails but tension remains...

    An attempted coup in Burundi appeared on Friday to have fizzled out after the office of President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he was back in the country and the streets were mostly calm.

    Along a highway in the south of the country, there were many police checkpoints but otherwise life was going on as normal.

    On Thursday fighting erupted between loyalist troops and forces supporting a major general who had announced the coup bid on Wednesday while Nkurunziza was in Tanzania for a meeting with regional leaders about unrest in his country.....AP....ctvnews.ca
    15/5/15

    ReplyDelete

Only News

Featured Post

“The U.S. must stop supporting terrorists who are destroying Syria and her people" : US Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard

US Congresswoman, Tulsi Gabbard, recently visited Syria, and even met with President Bashar Al-Assad. She also visited the recently libe...

Blog Widget by LinkWithin