Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was appointed chief adviser to Bangladesh's interim government on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country following a violent crackdown on a student-led uprising.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to lead Bangladesh's interim government
Yunus was appointed president by Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin after he met with student leaders and leaders of the three armed forces, local media reported Tuesday night, citing a statement and officials from the president's office.
Yunus, 84, and his Grameen Bank, a microfinance organization, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their work lifting millions of people out of poverty by providing small loans of less than $100 to Bangladesh's rural poor.
The student leaders had said they wanted Yunus as the interim government's chief adviser, and a spokesman for Yunus said he agreed. Yunus is in Paris for a medical procedure and is expected to return to Dhaka soon.
