Bangladesh's incoming interim leader Muhammad Yunus appeals for calm. He'll take office Thursday

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s incoming interim leader Muhammad Yunus appealed for calm Wednesday and urged all parties to help the country rebuild after weeks of violence that killed hundreds and prompted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India.

Yunus, a Nobel peace laureate, was in Paris for the Olympics when he was named interim leader following talks among military officials, civic leaders and the student activists who led the uprising against a prime minister seen as increasingly autocratic. Yunus made his first public comments in the French capital Wednesday before boarding a plane to return home.

He congratulated the student protesters, saying they had made “our second Victory Day possible,” and appealed to them and other stakeholders to remain peaceful, while condemning any violence since Hasina’s resignation Monday.

“Violence is our enemy. Please don’t create more enemies. Be calm and get ready to build the country,” Yunus said.

Bangladesh’s military chief, Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman said in a televised address that Yunus would be sworn in Thursday night and that he expected him to usher in a “beautiful democratic” process. The military leader said that those responsible for violence since Hasina’s resignation would be brought to justice.

Yunus, who was awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work developing microcredit markets, told reporters in Paris: “I’m looking forward to going back home and seeing what’s happening there, and how we can organize ourselves to get out of the trouble that we are in.″

Asked when elections would be held, he put his hands up as if to indicate it was too early to say. ″I’ll go and talk to them. I’m just fresh in this whole area.″

A tribunal in Dhaka earlier on Wednesday acquitted Yunus in a labor law violation case, involving a telecommunication company he founded, in which he was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail. He had been released on bail in the case.

Ailing opposition leader and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia also urged calm on Wednesday, a day after the country's figurehead president ordered her release from house arrest.

Zia urged her supporters not to follow a path of destruction, in an address at a rally via video link from her hospital bed. It was her first public speech since 2018, when she was convicted of corruption charges and jailed.

“No destruction, no anger, and no revenge, we need love and peace to rebuild our country,” she told members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Zia's son and the acting head of the party, Tarique Rahman also addressed the crowd online from London, where he has been living in exile since 2008. Rahman faces several criminal cases and was convicted of corruption and a grenade attack, charges dismissed by supporters as politically motivated.

Zia, who ruled the country from 2001 to 2006, had been sentenced in 2018 to 17 years in prison. Her party said the case was aimed at keeipng her away from politics. Hasina's then-government denied the allegation.

On Wednesday, the capital Dhaka was calm two days after violence gripped the country amid Hasina’s sudden departure. Students activists cleaned streets and managed traffic in parts of Dhaka, after police went on strike earlier in the week following violent attacks on police stations.

The country’s newly appointed police chief, Mainul Islam, ordered officers to return to work by Thursday evening.

Bangladesh's President Mohammed Shahabuddin, a symbolic figure temporarily acting as the chief executive under the constitution, asked security officials on Wednesday to take stern action against any troublemakers.

The president had dissolved Parliament on Tuesday, clearing the path for an interim administration that is expected to schedule new elections, but it's not clear when they will take place.

Shahabuddin named Yunus as the head of an interim government in consultation with the army, student leaders and other stakeholders. Yunus, an economist and banker, has been a longtime opponent of Hasina, who had called him a “bloodsucker” allegedly for using force to extract loan repayments from rural poor, mainly women. Yunus has denied the allegations.

Violence in days surrounding Hasina’s resignation killed at least 109 people — including 14 police officers, and left hundreds of others injured, according to media reports, which could not be independently confirmed. Reports said more attacks took place across the country also on Tuesday. The looting of firearms also was reported in local media.

In the southwestern district of Satkhira, 596 prisoners and detainees escaped from a jail after an attack on the facility Monday evening, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported.

Homes of former ministers and MPs belonging to Hasina's party were looted, torched or vandalized. People were seen on social media taking valuables from the home of Hasina’s younger sister in Dhaka’s Gulshan area. Four separate neighbors confirmed the looting in comments to The Associated Press.

Local media also reported that ruling party officials were among the dead in this week's violence, mostly outside Dhaka. There also were reports of violence against the Hindu community and other minorities, triggering condemnation from Human Rights Watch. Details of that violence could not be independently confirmed.

Opposition politicians have publicly called on people not to attack minority groups, while student leaders asked supporters to guard Hindu temples and other places of worship.

The unrest began in July with protests against a quota system for government jobs, which critics said favored people with connections to Hasina's party. But they soon grew into a broader challenge to Hasina’s 15-year rule, which was marked by human rights abuses, corruption, allegations of rigged elections and a brutal crackdown on her opponents. More than 300 people died in just a few weeks.

The quick move to choose Yunus came when Hasina’s resignation created a power vacuum and left the future unclear for Bangladesh, which has a history of military rule, messy politics and myriad crises.

The military, which took temporary control until the interim government could be sworn in, wields significant influence in a country that has seen more than 20 coups or coup attempts since its independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Many fear that Hasina’s departure could trigger even more instability in the densely populated nation of some 170 million people, which is already dealing with high unemployment, corruption and a complex strategic relationship with India, China and the United States.

Hasina, 76, was elected to a fourth consecutive term in January, in an election boycotted by her main opponents. Thousands of opposition members were jailed before the vote, and the U.S. and U.K. denounced the result as not credible.

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Associated Press writers Andrea Rosa and Ahmed Hatem contributed to this report from Paris.

Students clean a wall that was vandalised with graffiti in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora)

Military personnel stand guard on a street as members of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) walk to take part in a rally in front of the party's headquarters in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

People read newspapers pasted on a wall in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora)

A girl participates in a candlelight vigil to pay tribute to victims of recent countrywide violence, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora)

People participate in a candlelight vigil to pay tribute to victims of recent countrywide violence, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora)

A student volunteer controls traffic, in the absence of traffic policemen on a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora)

People walk past a vandalised shopping center in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora)

Students clean pillars that were vandalised with graffiti in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora)

People gather in front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) headquarters during a protest rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus waves to the media at Charles de Gaulle's airport in Roissy, north of Paris, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

People gather in front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) headquarters during a rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus walks with his luggage at Charles de Gaulle's airport in Roissy, north of Paris, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus stands with his luggage at the check-in desk at Charles de Gaulle's airport in Roissy, north of Paris, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

People gather in front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) headquarters during a protest rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus checks in his luggage at Charles de Gaulle's airport in Roissy, north of Paris, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus gestures while speaking to the media upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle's airport in Roissy, north of Paris, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

People gather in front of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) headquarters during a protest rally in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

FILE- Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammad Yunus, right, and Grameen Bank representative Mosammat Taslima Begum display their medals and diplomas at City Hall in Oslo, Norway Sunday Dec. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/John McConnico, File)

FILE- Muhammad Yunus, an economist from Bangladesh who founded the Grameen Bank and won a Nobel Peace Prize, is seen at the end of a press conference in Paris Monday Feb. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File)

Volunteers manage road traffic in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Middle East stock markets tumbled Monday as they struggled with the dual hit of the United States' new tariff policy and a sharp decline in oil prices, squeezing energy-producing nations that rely on those sales to power their economies and government spending.

Benchmark Brent crude is down by nearly 15% over the last five days of trading, with a barrel of oil costing just over $63. That’s down nearly 30% from a year ago, when a barrel cost over $90.

That cost per barrel is far lower than the estimated break-even price for Saudi Arabia and most other countries producing energy in the Middle East. That's coupled with the new tariffs, which saw the Gulf Cooperation Council states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates hit with 10% tariffs. Other Mideast nations face higher tariffs, like Iraq at 39% and Syria at 41%.

“With these measures and the expected retaliatory measures that could be adopted by other countries, the stability and predictability of international trade could be undermined,” the accounting firm PwC said in an advisory to its Mideast clients.

The Dubai Financial Market exchange fell 6% after it opened for the week, with market leader Emaar Properties down 9%. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange fell 4%.

Markets that opened Sunday saw losses as well. Saudi Arabia's Tadawul stock exchange fell over 6% in trading then, with further losses of 3% after opening Monday. The giant of the exchange, Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco, fell over 5% on its own on Sunday, with more losses Monday, wiping away billions in market capitalization for the world's sixth-most-valuable company.

The drop in Aramco, whose shares also power Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's expansive plans to reshape the kingdom's economy, ties directly back to the overall price of oil.

Last week, OPEC+ members Algeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE agreed to speed up the introduction of more oil into the market. This month marks the first oil production increase by the group since 2022.

“OPEC+ has shifted its market management strategy from a steady incremental increase in output to monthly announced targets, bringing forward higher output levels for May this year,” an analysis published Monday by the state-majority-owned Emirates NBD Bank of Dubai said. “That will leave oil markets grasping with additional volatility as they assess the negative impact on global trade of the tariffs announced by the Trump administration.”

The Qatar Stock Exchange fell over 4% Sunday and a further 2% as trading resumed Monday. Boursa Kuwait fell over 5% on Sunday, with slight losses again Monday.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange fell rapidly Monday, with Islamabad facing 29% tariffs from the U.S. The exchange suspended trading for an hour after a 5% drop in its main KSE-30 index.

"We may face this situation until the uncertainty ends at the global market,” said Mohammed Sohail, the chief executive at Topline Securities.

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said over the weekend that Islamabad will send a delegation to the United States soon to negotiate. The U.S. imports around $5 billion worth of textiles and other products from Pakistan, which heavily relies on loans from the International Monetary Fund and others.

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

A dejected investor waits to restart trading, which suspended for an hour following a 5% drop in in its main index at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE), in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Stock brokers discuss the situation at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE), after trading suspended for an hour following a 5% drop in in its main index, in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

An investor looks on indexes and benchmark 100 index at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE), in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

A stock broker checks indexes and benchmark 100 index at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE), in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

An investor takes a picture with a cell phone of indexes and benchmark 100 index at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE), in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)