バングラ・ユヌス氏、ロヒンギャ難民と繊維産業への支援継続を公約

【ダッカＡＦＰ＝時事】バングラデシュ暫定政権の首席顧問に就任したムハマド・ユヌス氏（８４）は１８日、初の主要政策演説を行い、ロヒンギャ難民と繊維産業への支援を継続する意向を示した。（写真はムハマド・ユヌス氏〈中央左〉）
　ユヌス氏は、国内に身を寄せている１００万人超のロヒンギャ難民について、「政府は引き続き支援する」と述べた。難民の多くは、２０１７年のミャンマー国軍による大規模弾圧を受け、バングラデシュに逃れてきた。
　ユヌス氏は、「ロヒンギャへの人道支援と、安全と尊厳、全ての権利を保障した上での祖国ミャンマーへの最終的な帰還を実現させるためには、国際社会の持続的な努力が必要だ」とも指摘した。
　バングラデシュでは約１か月にわたる学生主導の反政府デモの末、政権が転覆。その間、主要産業である繊維産業も大きな打撃を受け、競合国に輸出需要を奪われる形となった。
　ユヌス氏は「わが国が中核的な役割を果たしている国際的な衣料供給網を寸断しようとする試みは容認しない」と語った。
　バングラデシュは約３５００の縫製工場を抱えており、繊維部門は国全体の年間輸出額５５０億ドル（約８兆円）の約８５％を占めている。
　一方、ユヌス氏は「数か月以内」に総選挙の実施を目指す考えを示した。
　１５年にわたり強権支配を続けてきたシェイク・ハシナ前首相（７６）は今月５日、デモ隊の首相公邸突入を受け、ヘリで隣国インドに逃れた。
　ハシナ氏失脚以前から、反体制派の大量拘束や超法規的な殺害など、政権による広範な人権侵害が指摘されていた。警察がデモの取り締まりを開始して以降、ハシナ氏が失脚するまでの３週の間にも４５０人以上が死亡した。
　国連の調査委員会が近く、デモの最中に行われた「残虐行為」を調査することになっている。
　ユヌス氏は、「虐殺をめぐる公正かつ国際的な信用を得られる調査を望んでいる」とし、国連に全面的に協力する姿勢を強調した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/19-16:56）

Bangladesh will maintain support both for its immense Rohingya refugee population and its vital garment trade, Nobel laureate and new leader Muhammad Yunus said Sunday in his first major policy address.
Yunus, 84, returned from Europe this month after a student-led revolution to take up the monumental task of steering democratic reforms in a country riven by institutional decay.
His predecessor Sheikh Hasina, 76, had suddenly fled the country days earlier by helicopter after 15 years of iron-fisted rule.
Setting out his priorities in front of diplomats and UN representatives, Yunus vowed continuity on two of the biggest policy challenges of his caretaker administration.
Our government will continue to support the million-plus Rohingya people sheltered in Bangladesh, Yunus said.
We need the sustained efforts of the international community for Rohingya humanitarian operations and their eventual repatriation to their homeland, Myanmar, with safety, dignity and full rights, he added.
Bangladesh is home to around one million Rohingya refugees.
Most of them fled neighbouring Myanmar in 2017 after a military crackdown now the subject of a genocide investigation by a United Nations court.
The weeks of unrest and mass protests that toppled Hasina also saw widespread disruption to the country's linchpin textile industry, with suppliers shifting orders out of the country.
We won't tolerate any attempt to disrupt the global clothing supply chain, in which we are a key player, Yunus said.
Bangladesh's 3,500 garment factories account for around 85 percent of its $55 billion in annual exports.
Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis out of grinding poverty.
He took office as chief adviser to a caretaker administration -- all fellow civilians bar two retired generals -- and has said he wants to hold elections within a few months.
Before her ouster, Hasina's government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of her political opponents.
She fled the country on August 5 to neighbouring India, her government's biggest political patron and benefactor, when protesters swarmed into the capital Dhaka to force her out of office.
- 'Hundreds were killed' -
Hundreds of thousands of our valiant students and people rose up against the brutal dictatorship of Sheikh Hasina, Yunus said during his address, at times visibly emotional.
She fled the country, but only after the security forces and her party's student wing committed the worst civilian massacre since the country's independence, he added.
Hundreds were killed, thousands were injured.
More than 450 people were killed between the start of a police crackdown on student protests and her ouster three weeks later.
- 'Dictatorship' -
A UN fact-finding mission is expected in Bangladesh soon to probe atrocities committed during that time.
We want an impartial and internationally credible investigation into the massacre, Yunus said on Sunday.
We will provide whatever support the UN investigators need.
Yunus again committed to hold free and fair elections as soon as we can complete our mandate to carry out vital reforms in our election commission, judiciary, civil administration, security forces, and media.
The Sheikh Hasina dictatorship destroyed every institution of the country, he said.
He added that his administration would make sincere efforts to promote national reconciliation.