Burkina Faso's new military leader, Capt Ibrahim Traoré, has urged cabinet ministers to "move faster" to fix the country's "urgent" problems, including an insurgency by Islamist militants.

The man he ousted in a coup on Friday has formally agreed to step down, religious and community leaders said.

They said Capt Traoré had accepted Lt Col Paul-Henri Damiba's resignation and conditions he had set.

He has gone to Togo, according to that country's government spokesman.

In a recording widely shared on social media, Lt Col Damiba said he wished Burkina Faso's new leader every success. It is not known if he was alone when it was made.

On Sunday Capt Traoré said the country was facing an emergency in every sector, "from security to defence, to health, to social action, to infrastructure", and it was time for government to "abandon the unnecessary red tape".
 
He wants fast solutions to big problems, which some fear signals a turn towards Russia.

Russia and France are engaged in a battle for influence in several former French colonies in West and Central Africa.

At the weekend there were attacks on French institutions, after it was reported that Lt Col Damiba was sheltering at a French military base in the capital, Ouagadougou.

France's foreign ministry said they were the work of "hostile demonstrators" who had been "manipulated by a disinformation campaign against us".

Some in Ouagadougou chanted pro-Russian slogans and waved Russian flags as they greeted the new junta leader and his convoy on Sunday.

He regards former colonial power France as an ally of the man he ousted, and has spoken of his willingness to work with new partners to fight Islamist insurgents - and analysts believe that could mean hiring Russian mercenaries.
 
Russian military contractors are said to be active in neighbouring Mali, after French forces pulled out following a row with that country's military leaders. The Russians are accused by rights groups of committing abuses and massacres of civilians, which Russia has always denied.

The head of the Russian mercenary Wagner group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has welcomed the takeover in Burkina Faso.
Meanwhile, the Russian government said on Monday it "would like the situation in Burkina Faso to normalise as soon possible".