BURKINA JUNTA LEADER RESIGNS AND FLEES FOLLOWING COUP

Burkina Faso's junta leader agreed to resign on Sunday, according to religious and community leaders, two days after army officers announced his deposition in a coup that sparked internal unrest and international condemnation.

Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba "himself offered his resignation in order to avoid confrontations with serious human and material consequences," the Religious and community leaders issued statement stated.

The religious and community leaders mediated between Damiba and the new self-proclaimed leader, Ibrahim Traore, they added.

According to regional diplomatic sources, Damiba fled to Togo's capital Lome on Sunday following the unstable and impoverished West African country's second coup this year.

Traore announced that evening that he had received army chiefs' support to "reinvigorate" the anti-jihadist struggle.

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS said in a statement Sunday that the various actors in the Burkinabe drama had accepted "a peaceful settlement of their differences." According to the statement, an ECOWAS delegation will travel to Ouagadougou on Monday.

According to religious and community leaders, Damiba set "seven conditions" for stepping down.

These included security guarantees for him and his military allies, as well as the honoring of his pledge to West Africa's regional bloc to return to civilian rule within two years.

Religious and community leaders with clout in Burkina Faso said Traore, 34, had accepted the situation and urged calm.