BURKINA FASO COUP: Coup Leaders Agree To Step Down

Burkina Faso coup leaders agreed to return to their barracks and said they would restore the deposed president to power, signing a deal with the army that apparently defused a tense standoff sparked by last week's putsch.

The breakthrough came late on Tuesday after marathon talks in Nigeria's Abuja, where west African heads of state had sought to break the impasse fuelled by angry threats on both sides.

The deal was signed a day after troops entered Burkina's capital Ouagadougou, turning up the pressure on the elite presidential guards (RSP) who staged the coup.

Under its terms, the RSP agreed to stand down from the positions they had taken up in Ouagadougou, while the army also agreed to withdraw its troops and guarantee the safety of the RSP members as well as their families.

The deal was presented to the Mogho Naba, "king" of Burkina Faso's leading Mossi tribe, in front of the media early on Wednesday.