First civilians arrested in Burkina over September coup

Ouagadougou (AFP) - Two political supporters of former Burkina Faso's ousted president have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a failed coup last month, police and other sources said.

Leonce Kone, from former leader Blaise Compaore's Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) party, and Hermann Yameogo from the National Union for Democracy and Development were taken into custody on Monday, police said.

They are the first civilians to be arrested in connection with a failed September 17 coup staged by the elite army force, the RSP, ahead of a disputed and delayed general election.

The two were "questioned by the police for a long time before members of another force brought them in," a source close to Yameogo told AFP.

Former banker Kone had been close to the brother of ex-president Compaore, and was president of the CDP after the strongman fled the country in October 2014 after 27 years in power.

He was the first official from the former ruling party to publicly support the putsch last month led by General Gilbert Diendere, who is now awaiting military trial.

The son of Burkina Faso's first president, Yameogo publically co-signed a declaration in support of the National Council for Democracy (CND), the ruling cabinet of Diendere's short-lived military junta.

Burkina Faso has lurched from crisis to crisis in the year since Compaore was ousted in a popular uprising, and the latest putsch focused on allowing his supporters to stand for office.

Elections to complete the country's transition to democracy were initially set for October 11, but have been postponed for at least several weeks.