Burundi coup general orders closure of airport, borders as president tried to fly home

A picture taken at the State House in Dar es Salaam, Wednesday shows the empty seat of Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza who didn't take part in the extra-ordinary East African Community summit on the Burundi crisis. (Photo:AFP)

The Burundian general who launched a coup Wednesday ordered the closure of Bujumbura airport and land borders, as President Pierre Nkurunziza tried to fly home to his troubled nation from Tanzania.

"I order the closure of the airport and border, and I ask every citizen and law enforcement down to the airport to protect it," General Godefroid Niyombare said in the radio broadcast.

Nkurunziza started his journey back to Burundi hours after an army officer announced a coup while he was attending a regional crisis meeting in neighbouring Tanzania.

"He has left because of the situation prevailing in Burundi," Tanzanian government spokesman Salva Rweyemamu told AFP, adding that Nkurunziza was heading back to the Burundi capital Bujumbura.

East African leaders had gathered Wednesday for a crisis summit meeting hoped to broker a deal to end weeks of deadly violence in Burundi over the president's controversial third term bid.

Foreign ministers from the five-nation East African Community (EAC) -- made up of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda as well as Burundi -- met in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, Kenyan Foreign Minster Amina Mohamed said, ahead of the presidential summit later Wednesday.