The new military leader of Guinea-Bissau appointed an ally of the ousted president as prime minister on Friday, as international criticism grew of this week's coup.

The military took "total control" of the west African country on Wednesday -- a day before the provisional results of national elections were due to be announced -- and President Umaro Sissoco Embalo took refuge in neighbouring Senegal.

The true motives for the putsch, the fifth the west African country has suffered in 45 years, remain unclear.

On Friday, Guinea-Bissau's new military leader, General Horta N'Tam, named as his prime minister Ilidio Vieira Te, the finance minister in Embalo's government.

N'Tam, who has been appointed to run the small, volatile country for a one-year transitional period, is also seen as an ally

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