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Excerpt from www.ctvnews.ca
Bangladesh protests: Interim leader Muhammad Yunus takes helm ahead of elections
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took the oath of office as head of Bangladesh’s interim government Thursday after an uprising prompted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down and flee to India.
The key tasks for Yunus now are restoring peace in Bangladesh and preparing for new elections following weeks of violence in which student activists led an uprising against what was considered Hasina’s increasingly autocratic 15-year rule.
Bangladesh’s figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath to Yunus for his role as chief advisor, which is the equivalent to a prime minister, in presence of foreign diplomats, civil society members, top businessmen and members of the former opposition party at the presidential palace in Dhaka. No representatives of Hasina’s party were present.\
Sixteen other people have been included in the interim Cabinet with members drawn mainly from civil society and including two of the student protest leaders. The Cabinet members were chosen in discussions this week among student leaders, civil society representatives and the military.
