[ALOCHONA] Friends of Grameen founder to meet Hasina

Friends of Grameen founder to meet Hasina

New Age 20/3/11 David Bergman

Former World Bank president James D Wolfensohn, also one of the founder members of the Friends of Grameen, is arriving in Bangladesh today in what may be a final attempt to try and negotiate a settlement in the conflict between the government and Muhammad Yunus.

Earlier this month, the Bangladesh Bank issued an order seeking the removal of Yunus from his position as the managing director of the Grameen Bank.

The matter is currently before the Appellate Division which last week adjourned proceedings for two weeks.

The US state department confirmed to New Age that during his two-day visit, Wolfenson will meet the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

The role of the US state department in the visit is unclear. While it insists that Wolfensohn is on `a private visit,' the former World Bank president is reported to have told colleagues that it asked him to come and is helping to arrange the visit.

Wolfensohn was president of the World Bank for 10 years between 1995 and 2005 having been nominated to the position by the US president, Bill Clinton, the husband of the current US secretary of state.

It is not known whether Wolfensohn has earlier met Sheikh Hasina.

In January, the government set up a three-month review into the Grameen Bank including looking at allegations aired by a Norwegian television documentary relating to misuse of funds.

The Friends of Grameen, an international pressure group whose founder members also include former president of Ireland Mary Robinson, and former Costa Rica president Óscar Arias, also a Nobel peace prize winner, believe that the `continued attacks against the Grameen Bank and Professor Yunus have been carried  out for political reasons.'

Wolfensohn's two-day trip will overlap with the visit to Dhaka of US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake who is today due to meet Sheikh Hasina and the foreign minister, Dipu Moni.

The US embassy would not confirm to New Age whether Blake would raise the issue of Muhammad Yunus at this meeting, simply saying that he would `discuss numerous issues of relevance to the US-Bangladesh relationship.'

It is known that the United States government has been particularly concerned about what it sees as unjustified action against Yunus. The US secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, is also a long-standing friend of the Nobel laureate.

It is possible that Wolfensohn may take part in the meeting that the US assistant secretary of state will be holding with the prime minister.

New Age could not get a comment from the Friends of Grameen about Wolfensohn's visit. The World Bank told New Age that he was not representing it in his meetings in Bangladesh.

The US embassy in Bangladesh told New Age, `Sir James Wolfensohn has come to consult with the government of Bangladesh and other experts in Bangladesh about microfinance in the region.'

It went on to say, `He is seeking the views of the prime minister and other top government officials.'

The embassy told New Age that it should contact Wolfensohn's office for details of his agenda in Bangladesh.

Many of the supporters of the government's actions related to Muhammad Yunus are suspicious of the international support for him.

Mozammel Babu, a journalist and businessman close to the government, who has recently been involved in setting up a `loose group of about 500 people' called the Friends of Bangladesh to try and counter the influence of international pressure relating to Yunus along with other issues, told New Age, `This is aggression from the west in the name of Dr Yunus on a sovereign country in applying the law of the land. Nationalist feeling is growing up very rapidly. We will resist [this] aggression.'

On Monday, the Friends of Bangladesh is starting a series of showings at the Star Cineplex of a revised version of the Norwegian Television documentary, directed by Tom Heinemann, which started off the whole controversy relating to the Grameen Bank.

Mozammel said that the Friends of Bangladesh has been galvanized to act in recent weeks by the Yunus issue but it had existed as an informal group of like-minded friends for a number of years.

The Grameen Bank declined to comment on the Wolfensohn visit.

 

__._,_.___

[Disclaimer: ALOCHONA Management is not liable for information contained in this message. The author takes full responsibility.]
To unsubscribe/subscribe, send request to alochona-owner@egroups.com

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___