Burundi president returns after coup bid

Burundi's President, Mr Pierre Buyoya, headed home to the tiny African country to shore up his government's authority after an attempted coup.

All the soldiers who were with this lieutenant [coup leader Pasteur Ntarutimana], they surrendered. We captured them and we captured the lieutenant. No one was killed. No one was wounded. Burundi Defence Minister Mr Cyrille Ndayirukiye

Burundi's defence minister said that about 30 dissident soldiers who launched the coup attempt yesterday had given themselves up peacefully early today and all those involved in the attempted takeover were in custody.

"All the soldiers who were with this lieutenant [coup leader Pasteur Ntarutimana], they surrendered. We captured them and we captured the lieutenant. No one was killed. No one was wounded," Defence Minister Mr Cyrille Ndayirukiye told reporters.

About 40 soldiers, believed to be from the central African country's politically dominant Tutsi minority and calling themselves the National Youth Patriotic Front, seized the state radio station yesterday and announced their rebellion.

But within hours, officers loyal to Tutsi President Mr Pierre Buyoya surrounded the building and opened talks with the coup leaders inside to persuade them to surrender.

Analysts said the attempted putsch signalled misgivings among Tutsis about a peace process aimed at ending a seven-year civil war pitting the Tutsi-led government against rebels of the Hutu majority.