Bangladesh's interim government is due to be sworn in on Thursday, days after protests ousted the country's current leader, forced him into flight and plunged the country into violent unrest and deep uncertainty.
The transitional government's prominent leader, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, was due to arrive in the early afternoon from Paris, where he had been invited to the Olympics. He was due to be sworn in along with a dozen other members of the transitional administration later Thursday night.
Yunus, a credited pioneer of microfinance, which provides small loans to women and the rural poor, faces an immediate and daunting task of restoring order to daily life and the economy.
Ousted leader Sheikh Hasina transformed a parliamentary system of government designed to easily weather leadership transitions into a highly centralized system that gives her total power in a country of 170 million people. An escalating crackdown on protests that lasted until Hasina boarded a flight to India left about 400 people dead, and her departure led to a complete collapse of government power.
Police have long been accused of widespread abuses while keeping Hasina in power, but have faced violent retaliation since she left office. Police have disappeared from the streets, the civil service is paralyzed, an already stagnant economy is in collapse and foreign reserves are dwindling.
Yunus, 84, said he saw his job as helping to restore trust in the government and had no political ambitions beyond supporting the transition.
“We must not let this opportunity slip away because of our mistakes,” Yunus said in a statement on Wednesday. “I urge everyone to remain calm and refrain from any violence.”
Army Commander Gen. Waqer-uz-Zaman told a news conference late Wednesday that the military was supporting Yunus in restoring order. He said he had spoken to Yunus by phone and would meet him at the airport when he arrived.
The army commander blamed much of the unrest on police disappearing from the city. He said new officers had been appointed to the police force and said he expected them to return to normal operations soon.
“It's impossible to fill the vacuum left by the police with military personnel,” he said.
