Paris: Lieutenant-Colonel Mamadou Bamba appeared on national television to declare a new ‘National Democratic Council’ had put an end ‘to the deviant regime of transition’ in the west African state and Burkina’s interim president had been stripped of his powers.

‘The National Transition Council has been... dissolved... Wide-ranging talks are being held to form a government... to lead to inclusive and peaceful elections,’ he added.

However, interim parliament speaker Cheriff Sy on Thursday denounced what he said was a ‘coup d’Etat’ in Burkina Faso after the presidential guard seized the interim president and prime minister and ‘dissolved’ political institutions.

What is happening in the poverty-stricken Sahel nation is ‘clearly a coup’, Sy told RFI radio, calling on the people to ‘immediately rise up’ in response.