Muhammad Yunus: Nobel laureate to lead Bangladesh’s interim government

Bangladesh's Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer was widely tipped to head the government

Bangladeshi Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus after filing an appeal for extension of bail at the Labour Appellate Tribunal in Dhaka on March 3. AFP

High-profile development banker Muhammad Yunus has been appointed the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, in a move to restore order after weeks of protests drove former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from the country.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s office announced the widely expected decision to select the Nobel Prize-winning economist after meeting the country’s armed forces and protest leaders, who called for Mr Yunus to take the role.

“The country is now going through a transitional period. It is important to form an interim government as soon as possible to overcome this crisis,” Mr Shahabuddin said.

Mr Yunus will return to Bangladesh soon, protest leader Nahid Islam said in a televised briefing in the capital Dhaka on Tuesday night.

Mr Islam said members of the interim government have yet to be finalised.

What started in late June as peaceful protests seeking to abolish a government jobs quota turned deadly in recent weeks with demonstrators seeking to remove Ms Hasina, who had shown few signs of backing down.

Her sudden resignation follows a weekend of student-led clashes with pro-government supporters that pushed the death toll from the violence since mid-July to about 350 people.

Mr Yunus’s top task will be to restore calm after Ms Hasina, who turned Bangladesh into an economic success and ruled with an iron fist, fled Monday to India and her official residence was ransacked.

Mr Shahabuddin, backed by the country’s powerful military, has promised to hold elections “as soon as possible".

Mr Yunus, 84, who pioneered micro-loans as a tool to fight poverty, had faced legal trouble under Ms Hasina, which he has called politically motivated.

Ms Hasina was the world’s longest-serving female head of government, winning a fourth term as prime minister in an election in January that was boycotted by her opponents and voters.

The US, the biggest buyer of Bangladesh’s exports, criticised the polls and imposed visa curbs on members of Ms Hasina’s party and law-enforcement officials in September.

Although Ms Hasina’s Awami League party dominated parliament, the army chief invited none of its members to talks on forming an interim government.

On Monday, thousands of jailed protesters were freed, as well as Ms Hasina’s rival and opposition leader Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister.