Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus says he is ready to lead an “interim government”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus said on Tuesday, August 6, that he was ready to lead an interim government in Bangladesh, in a written statement to AFP, the day after the army took control of the country and the Prime Minister fled abroad. “I have always kept politics at a distance (…) But today, if it is necessary to act in Bangladesh, for my country, and for the courage of my people then I will do it”he wrote, while calling for the organization of“free elections”.

Muhammad Yunus thus confirms comments published Tuesday in the French daily Le Figaroto whom he had confided: “If circumstances require it, I can lead the government.” The main leader of the student movement behind the protests that began in early July said on Tuesday that he wanted Muhammad Yunus to lead the interim government.

The 84-year-old is known for lifting millions out of poverty through his pioneering microfinance bank. He had drawn the lingering enmity of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who accused him of “suck blood” poor.