Comoros Coup Leader Haggles Over Surrender : Africa: French commandos take control of islands. Mercenary who spearheaded invasion frees president he deposed.

Pinned by French commandos who stormed this African island nation Wednesday, a longtime mercenary handed over the president he deposed and detained last week and haggled over the end to his latest coup.

After a day in which 600 French troops took control of the islands, commandos walked into Bob Denard’s compound without firing a shot late Wednesday, fueling speculation of surrender.

But Denard, reached by telephone, said that negotiations were continuing: “I haven’t surrendered. This is standby. We’ll see tomorrow.”

French Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Raymond Germanos initially told a news conference in Paris that Denard had given up and freed President Said Mohamed Djohar, held captive since last Thursday’s coup.

But ministry staff corrected Germanos and said the surrender had not been confirmed. They did confirm that Djohar was taken to the French Embassy after his release.

Denard nonetheless seemed beaten in the latest of a string of coups in his career as Africa’s most notorious mercenary, with France’s 600 elite troops--armed with bazookas and machine guns--cornering him in the Comoros military headquarters.

French soldiers closed roads in the capital, and a showdown was possible between the French commandos and several hundred Comoran troops inside the military compound under the mercenaries’ command.

At least three people died and 11 were injured in the dawn assault by the French that secured the Hahaya airport 12 miles north of Moroni, the capital, and gained the troops a key foothold near the central harbor and embassy.

The known fatalities were two Comoran soldiers shot to death and a motorcycle driver killed by gunfire while transporting a French news photographer.

“If I disarm my men, they’ll be dead,” Denard, 66, said earlier Wednesday. “I don’t want to have a blood bath on my conscience. We will negotiate.”

Germanos said French President Jacques Chirac made the decision to intervene late Friday, a few hours after his government said it would not do so. French officials declined to say what prompted the change.

The assault began with about 40 commandos swarming ashore on inflatable speedboats and battling with 30 Comoran soldiers and four French mercenaries at Hahaya airport, said Capt. Robert Pellegrin, the commander.

After securing the airfield, the French landed several planes of troops and commandeered airport vehicles, including two firetrucks and a mobile airplane stairway.

The strange procession reached the area near military headquarters at nightfall, and soldiers closed roads around Denard’s hillside compound.

The French demanded his unconditional surrender, citing an international warrant they issued for his arrest. Prosecutors said he had left France illegally as they probed his role in the death of another Comoran president in 1989.

Denard has staged several coups on this dirt-poor chain of islands, which he ruled through figurehead presidents from 1978 to 1989, when France negotiated his departure.

Despite the morning fighting Wednesday, much of Moroni appeared calm. People gathered in the streets, unafraid of gunfire spreading beyond the airport and harbor area.