Burkina Faso disbands elite unit behind coup

Burkina Faso's armed forces have started disarming the presidential guard, the military said in a communiqué on Friday.

Previously, President Michel Kafando signed a decree on national television disbanding the elite unit that spearheaded the short-lived coup.

The cabinet, led by Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida, also fired the minister of security, Colonel Sidi Pare.

The interim government also created a commission to indentify those responsible for the military takeover, meeting on Friday for the first time since Kafando's reinstatement two days earlier.

Zida, who once served as one of the top commanders of the presidential guard, hinted that the coup leaders would face trial.

"Those who will have to answer to justice will do so," he said as the government gathered in a city office, instead of the presidential palace where the coup took place.

Old guard

The presidential guard is still loyal to ex-president Blaise Compaore, who ruled Burkina Faso for 27 years before being ousted in a popular uprising last October.

The soldiers arrested Zida, Kafando and several other top government officials after storming a cabinet meeting on September 16. The elite unit then replaced Kafando with Compaore's former right hand man, General Gilbert Diendere.

Faced with both internal and international pressure, the army agreed to step down and reinstate the civilian government only days after the takeover.

However, the coup leaders were demanding guarantees from officials before they disarm, a senior guard member told the AFP news agency.

"The men are categorically opposed" to disarming without the guarantees, the source said, adding they had met an army delegation to discuss their future safety.

'The snake' wounded

The group which ousted Compaore had urged that there be no retribution against the coup supporters.

"No power can do anything against a determined people. I think the soldiers implicated in this coup and even the politicians have realized that (a coup) is something which can no longer come off in this country," spokesman Guy-Herve Kam told the AFP news agency.

At the same time, Kam warned that "the snake is wounded but he is not dead."

Burkina Faso was set to hold elections on October 11, but the date is likely to be pushed back following the coup. Regional partners of the African country suggested November 22, and recommended that Compaore's allies be allowed to compete.

dj/lw (Reuters, AFP, AP)