Top US official set for talks in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Nov 4 (Reuters) A top US. State Department official will visit Bangladesh shortly to assess the volatile political situation ahead of elections next January, the US embassy said today.

Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for south and central Asia, was expected to meet President Iajuddin Ahmed, who is also the head of Bangladesh's interim government, an embassy spokesman said.

Boucher might also meet former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and her arch rival Sheikh Hasina, another ex-premier who heads the Awami League party.

Iajuddin took over as head of the caretaker authority last Sunday after Khaleda's five-year term ended.

At least 25 people were killed and hundreds injured in three days of violent protests over who should lead the three-month administration until the January polls.

Since then, US ambassador Patricia A Butenis has shuttled between rival camps, meeting Hasina, Khaleda and leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party and the Jatiya Party led by former military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad.

Political analysts believe a visit by Boucher would boost efforts by Butenis to disengage the warring sides, at least for a week while Iajuddin tries to accommodate the demands of Hasina and her allies to make the voting free and fair.

These include the removal of Chief Election Commissioner M A Aziz and his deputies, whom the opposition accuse of bias towards Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat.

The interim authority, comprising the president and 10 advisers, will run the country and oversee the elections.

Boucher visited Bangladesh in August and urged political leaders to cooperate to hold a free, fair and credible election.

Thousands of supporters of Khaleda's BNP and Jamaat attended a noisy rally in Dhaka today.

A two-member team from the Commonwealth Secretariat arrived in Dhaka today to conduct a pre-election assessment, officials said.

REUTERS SSC RN1901