After the bloody unrest in Bangladesh, the father of microcredit takes the helm. Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus is sworn in as head of the transitional government. Will the country find peace?
After weeks of unrest in Bangladesh with many deaths and the flight of the authoritarian Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is expected to bring peace back to his homeland. Shortly after his return from a stay in France, the 84-year-old, also known as the “banker of the poor”, was sworn in as interim head of government with the backing of the powerful military. Yunus is expected to remain in power until new elections are held. When these will take place was initially unclear. He is the preferred candidate of those taking part in the mass protests against the government.
The ceremony in Bangabhaban, the official residence of President Mohammed Shahabuddin in the capital Dhaka, began late in the evening with a minute’s silence in memory of those killed in the unrest. An imam then read from the Koran. In addition to Yunus, the president administered the oath to 13 appointed members of the future interim cabinet – two of whom are leaders of the student protests. Another three cabinet members were to take their oath later. The guests included military personnel, government officials and other members of the protest movement. No one from the former head of government’s party, the Awami League, was present, according to sources close to the president.
Hopes rest on Yunus
The hopes are pinned on Yunus, an economist and a staunch critic of Hasina, to lead the country with its more than 170 million inhabitants out of the crisis. Bangladesh can fulfill the promise of rebirth, said Yunus after his arrival at the capital’s airport, where he was received by army chief Waker-uz-Zaman and the leaders of the student protests. There is hope that the youth can rebuild the country. “Bangladesh can be a wonderful country.” He told his fellow countrymen that the nation must be protected from violence.
The interim government has an opportunity to lead Bangladesh back towards real democracy, says expert Thomas Kean from the non-governmental Crisis Group. He expects Yunus to want to implement political and economic reforms. However, this could be difficult if the Bangladesh Nationalist Party – the second major party alongside Hasina’s Awami League – pushes for quick new elections.
The long-serving head of government resigned on Monday after the mass protests and deadly clashes between demonstrators and security forces and initially fled to India in a military helicopter. According to local media, more than 400 people have died in the protests since July.
After Hasina’s escape, the decision to appoint Yunus was made at a meeting between the president and representatives of the protest movement and the military. According to observers, the armed forces had recently held de facto power in the South Asian country.
Even after the head of government’s resignation and the plans for a transitional government, isolated incidents of violence continued, according to reports. There were more deaths, most of them supporters of Hasina, it was said. Several police stations were also burned down. At the same time, students took over some of the police’s tasks. For example, they regulated traffic at several intersections in the capital. Others cleaned walls of graffiti directed against the previous government.
Inventor of microcredit
Yunus is the inventor of microcredit. With his Grameen Bank, which he founded in the 1980s, he gave small loans to poor people who would otherwise not have received normal bank loans so that they could start their own business. He found imitators all over the world: when Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, there were microcreditors in more than 100 countries.
The issue of poverty also played an important role in the protests. Despite an economic boom under Hasina – the country has the second largest textile industry in the world – many people are struggling to make ends meet: unemployment and inflation are high. Due to a planned, controversial quota system in the civil service, many demonstrators feared that access to the coveted jobs was at risk, which triggered the protests. Although the Supreme Court largely reversed the regulation, the protests against the government continued.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
