The African Union has given Burkina Faso's military authorities two weeks to return power to a civilian government or face sanctions, the head of the organisation's Peace and Security Council has said.
The West African nation's military took power after long-time president Blaise Compaore stepped down on Friday.
It followed two days of mass protests over his bid to extend his rule through a constitutional amendment.
"The African Union is convinced the change has been against democracy. However, popular pressure led to the resignation of the president," Simeon Oyono Esono told journalists via a translator in Addis Ababa.
"So we have taken note of the origin of the popular revolt which led to the military getting power, so we determined the period of two weeks and after that period we are going to apply sanctions," he said.
Meanwhile, the United States has said it is not ready to determine whether the takeover by Burkina Faso's army of the country amounted to a coup, a step that if taken could require a cut off of US assistance to the country.
"Right now the precise make-up of Burkina Faso's transitional government is an outstanding issue," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
"We are certainly encouraging movement to a civilian-led transition and then of course elections," she added.
"At this point we're still gathering facts; we're not going to make a policy or legal determination at this point in time."
