them, reattached the gendarmerie's command to the army, and sent out an appeal for politicians and foreign diplomats to meet with them and "discuss ways to manage the crisis". In the afternoon Ngeze conducted a courtesy call at the French embassy to introduce himself as the new head of state. French Ambassador Henri Crepin-Leblond told him that the coup was unconstitutional and that power should be turned over to the civilian government. Ngeze then went to the local office of the United Nations Development Program, where the head of the mission, Jocelyn Basil-Finley, told him that the international community would not accept the coup. Ngeze then made several presidential appointments, assigning a new director of intelligence. At about 21:00, he introduced himself to the public in a television broadcast as President of the Conseil National de Salut Public—a body which did not exist—and announced the displacement of the governors among other actions as measures meant to "manage the crisis". Public radio announcements appealing for public support of the new regime were drafted under the direction of UPRONA politician Charles Mukasi. The country's borders were closed and Bujumbura International Airport was shut down. The Rwanda-based Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) reported that a coup had taken place and that Ndadaye had been captured on 21 October. This led young FRODEBU members to arm themselves and take Tutsis and Hutu UPRONA members hostage. Once RTLM announced later that day that Ndadaye was dead, the hostages were executed. The United Nations International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi determined in 1996 that "circumstantial evidence is sufficient to warrant the conclusion" that some FRODEBU leaders had anticipated the possibility of an army coup attempt and disseminated plans for armed resistance and hostage-taking. The announcement of Ndadaye's death triggered an immediate reaction of violence from FRODEBU members and Hutu peasants across the country, who took to murdering all Tutsis they encountered. Some of the perpetrators stated that they acted out of fear that the assassination signaled an imminent repeat of the 1972 killings of Hutus. More deaths occurred when the army intervened to restore "peace and order", resorting to brutality and murdering many Hutu civilians in the process. Thousands more people fled abroad. When protestors peacefully demonstrated against the coup in Bujumbura soldiers opened fire on them, killing about 10. Collapse of the coup On 22 October Ngeze met with the Bujumbura diplomatic corps