PARIS: The leader of a coup in Burkina Faso said on Thursday he had no contact with former president Blaise Compaore, but that the way the interim government had been running the country and preparing elections had forced the presidential guard to act.
Gilbert Diendere, a general in the guard and deemed close to Compaore, said there had been "no contact" with him and he had not spoken to him since the coup.
Elections were due to be held on October 11, but Diendere said he would now need to speak to political parties and the international community to see how to proceed.
"All change of this type can lead to violence. I am conscious of that ... everything will be done to avoid violence that could plunge the country into chaos," Diendere said on France 24 television.
One dead, 60 hurt
At least one person has died and some 60 have been injured in coup-related violence, doctors at the capital's main hospital said.
The sole fatality so far was a man who was shot on Wednesday and succumbed to his injuries a day later, doctors at Ouagadougou's Yalgado Ouedraogo university hospital said.
Diendere told a French magazine on Thursday that the interim president and prime minister who have been arrested were in good health and would be released.
Speaking to the Jeune Afrique weekly, Diendere said said that acting president Michel Kafando and his prime minister Isaac Zida had been put under house arrest.
"They are doing well and will be released," he said.
Agencies
