Leader of the failed coup in Burundi, Major-General Godeforid Niyombare, has been arrested.
Spokesman of President Pierre Nkurunziza, Gervais Abayeho, revealed this on Friday.
He said Niyombare was captured two days after announcing Nkurunziza had been overthrown.
“He has been arrested, he didn’t surrender. The plotters would face sanctions and the justice system would decide on the next line of actions. It was up to the justice system, they will be held answerable,” Abayeho said.
Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Prime Niyongabo, confirmed that the 12 soldiers, who backed the attempted coup, were killed in fierce fighting on Thursday when they tried to seize state radio.
He said 35 other “mutineers” were wounded and 40 more surrendered.
Niyongabo said four loyal troops were wounded.
Meanwhile, the anti-Nkurunziza protesters said they would return to the streets, setting the stage for more clashes.
A man with a gaping head wound lay dead in a street in Butarere, Bujumbura district which has been a hotbed for protests.
Residents said police had shot him and wounded two others.
A group of young men in Bujumbura’s Cibitoke suburb said they had been warned by police that they would be treated as rebels and shot at if they demonstrated.
Police had come to the neighbourhood early in the morning, telling them, “Now we are no longer looking for protesters, we are looking for rebels”.
Activists said during the past weeks of protests, police were often seen firing live rounds at demonstrators, killing more than 20 people.
Diplomats said the battle in the capital has largely been driven by a struggle for power, rather than explicitly ethnic rivalry.
They warned that the longer violence continues, the more chance that old ethnic wounds could be reopened.
