Burkina Faso yesterday froze the assets of General Gilbert Diendere, who led a failed coup last week in which his men took the president and prime minister hostage just weeks before elections were due. The state prosecutor said in a statement he also froze the assets of 13 others suspected of links to the coup and to the political party of former President Blaise Compaore and three other parties linked to the former ruler. The decision, which applied to financial and property assets, is part of a crackdown against the coup leaders and their perceived supporters one day after the cabinet dissolved the elite presidential guard.