Police in Bangladesh today arrested the former prime minister Khaleda Zia as part of the interim government's campaign against corruption. Ms Zia is the second former prime minister to be detained in the anti-corruption drive. Her arch-rival, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, has been held since July on blackmail charges.
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Nine Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers were killed by gunmen yesterday in an attack on a patrol in eastern Congo. The ambush, one of the deadliest on the 16,000-strong UN mission in Congo, happened near the town of Kafe, 20 miles north-west of Bunia, the capital of the lawless Ituri region.
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The World Bank's director in Bangladesh has fled the country after receiving a death threat, according to agency reports. Christine Wallich received the threatening letter on Tuesday and left Bangladesh that night.
Copies of the warning were sent to several newspaper offices.
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Police in Bangladesh remained on high alert today as opposition party protests continued after 19 people were killed and more than 300 injured in an attack on an Awami League rally. Tens of thousands of angry Awami League supporters took to the streets all over the country at the weekend, clashing with police and setting fire to a passenger train yesterday. At least 50 people were injured during the violence. They were protesting against Saturday's grenade attack on a packed rally outside the party's headquarters in the capital, Dhaka - an apparent attempt on the life of the league's leader, Sheikh Hasina.
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Police in Bangladesh have detained nine suspects in connection with a bomb attack on a Muslim shrine in the north-eastern town of Sylhet on Friday. Three people were killed in the blast and dozens injured, including the British High Commissioner in Bangladesh, Anwar Choudhury. Mr Choudhury was treated for leg injuries but is not seriously hurt. UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was "deeply shocked" by the bombing. It is unclear who carried out the attack.
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Britain is willing to raise its development assistance to Bangladesh if the country can improve aid governance and utilisation capacity. "We would like to give more development assistance if the Bangladesh's aid overnance and utilisation capacity are improved," said newly appointed British High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Anwar Choudhury, while talking to The New Nation yesterday. Choudhury, the first Bangladesh-born British High Commissioner, also said the British government is ready to provide direct aid to Bangladesh. "We prefer to give money as much as possible to the people who need it." Currently the United Kingdom provides Bangladesh £100 million of development assistance a year.
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The shopkeepers around him won't talk about the extortionists, pleading that they will be murdered if their own identities are revealed, but Siraj ul-Islam, a seller of saris in Dhaka's Kawran Bazaar, says he has nothing to lose by speaking to TIME. "Whether you publish our names or not, we are all dead men in this market," says the 54-year-old as he squats on a white platform in his little store. Kawran Bazaar, a sprawling complex of wholesale markets and retail shops near the heart of the capital, is a hunting ground for gun-wielding extortionists who don't hesitate to kill if they are refused their protection money. On Feb. 9 six suspected extortionists shot dead Mostafa Kamal, a travel agent who worked near Kawran Bazaar. Business has now dropped off sharply for Siraj and his neighbors, who are scared they could be next. "A man doesn't know if he'll make it home safely these days," says a nearby shopkeeper. Siraj, who fought against the Pakistanis in the 1971 war of liberation that created Bangladesh, summarizes the situation with a touch of bitter irony: "In 1971, the Pakistanis were terrified of us. But now we're the ones who are terrified inside our own country."
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Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday lauded Bangladesh's international peacekeeping role and commitment to democracy during a brief visit to Dhaka on his way to the Middle East. Asked why Powell was stopping in Dhaka, a senior State Department official aboard his plane said: "The reason is...to go to a country that is trying to make democracy succeed and to do what we can to encourage them, push them and help them." Later, Powell told a news conference that Washington deeply appreciated Bangladesh's support in its war against terror, and its efforts to build democratic institutions and fight poverty.
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