February 12, 2007	Monday	Muharram 23, 1428

DHAKA, Feb 11: Bangladesh's Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus on Sunday formally announced his willingness to form a new political party to take part in forthcoming elections.

“I seek your support to form a political party. Please write letters or call me to give your opinion. I seek your support and advice. I am waiting for your response,” Mr Yunus told reporters, in comments addressed to the Bangladeshi people.

“If they say: go ahead, I will join politics... form a party. I am ready to take this risk. My politics will be to build a new country... set a new current in politics,” the Nobel laureate told reporters.

Yunus and his Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his pioneering work giving tiny loans to the very poor.

Yunus said his party would take part in the next elections, although a date for the vote has yet to be set. Polls originally scheduled for January were cancelled and a state of emergency imposed following months of political violence.

An interim government running the country has since embarked on a major anti-corruption campaign in a bid to clean up the country's notoriously corrupt political landscape ahead of new elections.

At least 25 high-profile politicians -- including nine former ministers with links to both the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the opposition Awami League -- have been detained in raids by the army, police and security forces since last weekend.

Mr Yunus said he would not ally himself with any of the tainted and corrupt politicians, saying “my aim is to build a new Bangladesh.” Bangladesh's powerful army has been seen as instrumental in the anti-corruption campaign, led by interim government chief Fakhruddin Ahmed -- a former central bank governor.—AFP