New Bangladesh interim govt likely to be sworn in on Thursday: army chief

DHAKA: Bangladesh army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said Wednesday that a new interim government was likely to be sworn in on Thursday evening after Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned to the country.

"I am certain that he [Yunus] will be able to take us through a beautiful democratic process and that we will benefit from this," Waker said in a televised address.

Yunus will have the title of chief adviser, according to Nahid Islam, one of the leaders of Students Against Discrimination who participated in the meeting.

"We are trying our best to hold the oath-taking ceremony tomorrow," the general said in a televised briefing. "We might do it at around 8:00pm. Around 400 hundred people will likely be present."

"He is very eager to do this," the general said in a televised address to the nation. "I am certain that he will be able to take us through a beautiful democratic process and that we will benefit from this."

Bangladesh's Yunus called on compatriots Wednesday to be "ready to build the country", ahead of his hugely anticipated return.

"Be calm and get ready to build the country," Yunus said Wednesday in a statement, a day ahead of his expected arrival home from France, urging calm after weeks of violence in which at least 455 people were killed.

"If we take the path of violence everything will be destroyed," he added.

The appointment came quickly after student leaders called on the 84-year-old Yunus — credited with lifting millions out of poverty in the South Asian country — to lead.

The decision was made in a meeting with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, the heads of the army, navy and air force, and student leaders, the president's office said in a statement.