West African leaders on Tuesday called for Burkina Faso's coup plotters to lay down their arms and the country's army not to fight back, as part of attempts to end a tense stand-off following last week's coup.

"They (ECOWAS heads of state and governments) called on the presidential guards to disarm and demanded the other unit of the army not to use force to avoid loss of human lives," ECOWAS commission president Kadre Desire Ouedraogo said after a meeting in Abuja.