Interim president is back in charge

Pulse Staff 07:53 - 23 September 2015

Burkinabe transitional President Michel Kafando sits with regional mediators (not pictured) at the president's residence in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, September 19, 2015. REUTERS/Joe Penney

"The transition is back and at this very minute is exercising the power of the state."

Burkina Faso's interim President Michel Kafando, who was taken hostage during a coup a week ago, said on Wednesday he was back in power and had restored a civilian transitional government.

"I have returned to work," he said in a brief speech to journalists at the foreign ministry in the capital. "The transition is back and at this very minute is exercising the power of the state."

The elite soldiers behind a coup inBurkina Faso and regular troops loyal to the government signed an agreement overnight to avoid an outbreak of violence in the capital Ouagadougou