Ougadougou airport was shut down Tuesday as Burkina troops locked down the area around the barracks of an elite unit behind a short-lived coup after they failed to disarm, raising fears of a new confrontation. All flights were cancelled and the airport, which is located near the city centre, would remain shut until further notice, an aviation source told AFP.
The news came several hours after the army staged a lockdown in the Ouaga 2000 neighbourhood around the barracks of the presidential guard (RSP) responsible for the September 17 putsch. Although the unit abandoned its attempted coup last week and was formally dissolved by the cabinet on Friday, the guards have failed to lay down their weapons and remained inside their barracks, prompting a new stand-off with the government which has accused them of fomenting fresh trouble. In a sign of escalating tensions, troops on Tuesday morning deployed all around the barracks with armoured cars and pickup trucks, while soldiers equipped with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades were stationed at several intersections, an AFP correspondent said.
All traffic was banned from the area and Chief of Staff General Pingrenoma Zagre urged residents to steer clear of the neighbourhood "for security reasons". It was not immediately clear why the troops had locked down the area although it appeared to be an attempt to exert pressure on the unit's leader, Gilbert Diendere, a former close ally of ousted strongman Blaise Compaore. The RSP, which is made up of some 1,300 crack troops and is loyal to Compaore, had detained interim President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Isaac Zida on September 16. A day later, they installed Diendere, Compaore's former chief of staff, as the new leader. Diendere told AFP he was trying to reason with his men who were refusing to disarm.
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