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Muhammad Yunus, set to lead the country temporarily, faces the immediate and daunting task of restoring order to daily life and to the economy.
By Saif Hasnat and Mujib Mashal
Saif Hasnat reported from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Mujib Mashal reported from New Delhi.
Aug. 8, 2024Updated 5:31 a.m. ET
Bangladesh is expected to swear in an interim administration on Thursday, days after its entrenched leader was toppled by protests and forced to flee, leaving the country in violent chaos and profound uncertainty.
The interim government’s high-profile leader, the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, arrived in Dhaka from Paris, where he was a guest at the Olympics. He was scheduled to be sworn in along with more than a dozen other members of the interim administration later in the day.
Mr. Yunus, a well-regarded pioneer of microfinance that extended small loans to women and the rural poor, faces the immediate and daunting task of restoring order to daily life and to the economy.
The army chief, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, said at a news conference late Wednesday that the military had extended its support to Mr. Yunus in restoring order. He said he had spoken to Mr. Yunus on the phone, and that he would receive him at the airport when he landed.
The toppled leader, Sheikh Hasina, had transformed a parliamentary government — something devised to easily weather leadership change — into a deeply centralized system in which she held all the power. An escalating crackdown on protests, which went on until she boarded a plane to India, left about 400 people dead, and once she was gone, it resulted in a total collapse of government authority.
