Probe into coup attempt

The Burundi army is to set up a commission of enquiry into the attempted coup earlier this week. Army spokesman Colonel Augustin Nzabampema told Burundi radio on Tuesday the army was trying establish the responsibility of 11 officers said to be behind the coup attempt on Sunday night. About 200 privates were also involved. The officers are currently in jail in the northern town of Ngozi after they surrendered there. “Conclusions from preliminary investigations show that the mutineers were misled by some outsiders on the basis of two issues,” Nzabampema said. The first was poverty and the second was the Arusha agreement whereby soldiers were told they would be replaced by “another army”. “Although nobody can deny that there is poverty in the army, nobody can also deny that the situation applies to the whole country,” Nzabampema stated. He claimed there were “foreigners” behind the attempts to mislead the soldiers, but gave no further details.