Fiche du document numéro 32913

Num
32913
Date
Sunday October 24, 1993
Amj
Taille
15300
Titre
Bujumbura [Coup-makers lost their nerve and look for a way to step down without incurring punishment]
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Lieu cité
Mot-clé
Source
AFP
Fonds d'archives
Type
Dépêche d'agence
Langue
EN
Citation
Nguedayo [Ngendahayo], who has taken refuge in a Western embassy in Bujumbura, said the speaker of parliament and several other high-ranking officials were also executed.

Western states should send an intervention force to Burundi, Nguedayo [Ngendahayo] said in an interview with AFP.

The death of Ndadaye had previously been reported by ministers and ambassadors abroad, but not from within the country.

Meanwhile the head of the coup-imposed Committee of Public Salvation, Francois Ngeze, has made two broadcasts on radio and television over the weekend denying that he was involved in the putsch.

Ngeze said he had accepted the committee's chairmanship "to help re-establish peace" and to restore legal authority.

Armed forces chief Colonel Jean Bikomagu also went on radio and television to deny he was a plotter, adding that his goal was to restore law, order and democracy.

Bikomagu said the return to power of Ndadaye's government would be conditional on its granting an amnesty to the coup-makers.

Observers said it seemed as if the coup-makers had lost their nerve and were now looking for a way to step down without incurring punishment.

Meanwhile representatives of the BDF and three other political parties said on Radio Rwanda that all civil servants should go on strike until "the bloody dictatorial and tribalist power capitulates."

The statement, signed by Transport Minister Shadrack Niyonkuru, also urged the world to impose sanctions against Burundi.

Meanwhile ex-president Jean-Baptiste Bagaza told Belgian radio that the coup had misfired.

"Contrary to what you might believe abroad, the coup has failed," he said.

"There was of course the assassination of President Ndadaye, but there was no other government to replace his. The coup leaders did not have the support of the population nor of the entire army."

Bagaza, who was president in 1976-87, denied that he was involved in the putsch and blamed the man who ousted him and was then beaten by Ndadaye at the polls, military ruler Pierre Buyoya.

Clashes between Hutus and the minority Tutsis, the tribe which has traditionally dominated the armed forces and upper ranks of government, have been reported on the outskirts of Bujumbura.

AFP AFP

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