Burkina Faso coup leader will hand back power

The Burkina Faso general who seized power in a coup last week  apologized to the nation Monday and said he would hand over control to a civilian transitional government after the military warned that its forces would converge on the capital and forcibly disarm the soldiers behind the power grab. Gen. Gilbert Diendere, who led the presidential guard under longtime leader Blaise Compaore until he was forced from power in a popular uprising last year, said the compromises were necessary to avoid further bloodshed.

We demand that they put down their weapons and rejoin Camp Sangoule Lamizana.

National Armed Forces statement

Compaore was president for 27 years, and his bid to further extend his rule prompted massive street protests that led to his ouster.The mediators led by the presidents of Senegal and Benin announced a plan late Sunday that calls for new elections by the end of November. The plan drafted by mediators is supposed to go before the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS in Nigeria on Tuesday.

Politics Burkina Faso