B'desh president fires bureaucrats, awaits advisers

DHAKA, Oct 31 (Reuters) Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed sacked or transferred 27 senior bureaucrats on his first day as head of an interim government after opposition parties set him a deadline to prove his neutrality.

The director-general of the elite Rapid Action Battalion force and a police intelligence chief were also sacked.

''The president has begun to act towards fulfilling the demands,'' a senior government official said today.

Iajuddin was sworn in on Sunday as chief adviser of the caretaker authority to supervise January elections in the impoverished South Asian country of 140 million.

But the main opposition party, the Awami League, and its allies have asked him to demonstrate by November 3 that he is neutral and can be trusted for the job.

Iajuddin will be assisted in his new role by a panel of 10 advisers, chosen from nominees given by major political parties.

A spokesman of the presidential palace said the parties had already handed their lists to the president. ''The names of the advisers are being finalised and they may be called up anytime to take oath of office,'' the spokesman said.

The caretaker authority replaced Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), whose five-year mandate ended last Friday.

Violent protests over who should lead the three-month administration killed at least 25 people and injured hundreds over the weekend. Clashes between rival parties continued today and the death toll rose to 29, police said.

Iajuddin's administration ordered security tightened to avert further violence, which analysts said could derail the election process. Officials said around 500 people had been detained in the past 24 hours alone.

TOUGH TASK Bangladeshi newspapers said Iajuddin faced a tough task in trying to ensure a free and impartial vote.

''The public perception of him being a (BNP) party man is unavoidable ... A person in such a position is generally the object of suspicion of others,'' the Daily Star said.

''It is thus for the president to de-link himself from the BNP and rise beyond any party or personal feelings and consider all the issues from the national perspective,'' the daily said.

British Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells urged the caretaker government in a statement ''to act with neutrality in the line of the constitution and ... to work towards free, fair and peaceful elections''.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to the country's main political parties to work together to find common ground for the elections, acting in the interest of democracy and the welfare of the nation.

Diplomatic missions in Dhaka asked their citizens to move with caution, officials said. South Korea's Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning to its nationals, citing the possibility of increased violence.

The caretaker system introduced in Bangladesh in 1991 after the toppling of military president Hossain Mohammad Ershad has worked generally well in three national elections since then.

The Awami League now wants the system reformed to make it more efficient and reliable, but Khaleda's BNP is reluctant.

Life returned to near-normal today after Hasina's 14-party alliance called off a three-day highway blockade. Commuters streamed into the capital, Dhaka, offices reopened and the main port, Chittagong, was working again.

REUTERS AKJ HS1905