Miss World pageant moves to London after Nigerian riots

Miss World contestants packed their swimsuits and evening gowns Saturday to leave Nigeria, but religious clashes -- ignited in part because of the pageant -- continued for a fourth straight day with angry Christians attacking Muslims who objected to the contest on moral grounds.

Red Cross workers have recovered "well over 100" bodies in Kaduna, a northern city of several million people with a history of Muslim-Christian violence. Nigerian Red Cross president Emmanuel Ijewere declined to give a precise death toll for fear of "inflaming the situation further."

More than 400 people were hospitalized in Kaduna, about 100 miles north of the capital, Abuja, with injuries suffered in the fighting, he said. At least 4,000 people were homeless.

Though the capital appeared calm Saturday, pageant officials announced they were moving the contest to London, where it will be held Dec. 7, the same day it had been planned for Nigeria.

Contest linked to violence

The decision was made "for the sake of the nation," pageant publicist Stella Din said. "Even though we believe this violence is not connected to us ... we didn't want any more bloodshed."

Julia Morley, Miss World president, said the pageant had been forced to abandon Nigeria because of media coverage linking the contest to the violence.

"There are many things wrong with Nigeria, just as we know across the world many things go wrong. If we considered violence around the world, I wouldn't even be in England. We have Northern Ireland and yet no one minds going to England," she said.

Morley accused foreign journalists, in particular, of jeopardizing the future of Miss World.

"You're my bread and butter. And I need you," she told journalists at a press conference in Abuja's Nicon Hilton, where the beauty queens have stayed under heavy police guard. "But you're trying to kill me and I hate this. You're trying to kill my business."

Ethnic and religious fighting is common in Africa's most populous nation. Previous riots in Kaduna have escalated into religious battles that have killed hundreds since civilian government replaced military rule in 1999.

The latest bloodshed started Wednesday in the northern city of Kaduna and spread Friday to Abuja, where the beauty contest was to have been held.

Mobs of Christians attacked Muslims in southern neighborhoods of Kaduna "with new bitterness" Saturday because they viewed the pageant's cancellation as a "Muslim victory," Nigerian Red Cross president Emmanuel Ijewere said.

Under guard

Throughout the violence, more than 80 Miss World contestants remained under Nigerian police and army guard in the Nicon Hilton.

By late Saturday, the women had packed their bags and were in the process of checking out, hoping to catch a late-night flight to London.

At least one beauty queen, Miss Canada Lynsey Bennet, fled her hotel room Friday evening before organizers canceled the pageant, Din said. Bennet was believed to have flown Saturday morning to London, Western diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

Miss South Korea also left the pageant early, Morley said.

But in Britain, the UK's Islamic Liberation party condemned the contest as offensive to people of any religion.

"A beauty contest is anathema, more akin to the dark ages than having a contest in the 21st century," spokesman Sajjad Khan told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

If the move was designed to avoid more violence, it backfired in Kaduna. Despite a round-the-clock curfew, Christians went on the rampage in southern neighborhoods, seeing the cancellation as a "Muslim victory," the Red Cross president said.

In the Trikania neighborhood, Muslim and Christian mobs pursued each other with sticks and knives. As police tried to disperse the rioters with tear gas, gunshots also were heard.

At one point, dozens of buildings were burning, blazes apparently set by the mobs. A man's body lay in a gutter. Women fled the area carrying baggage on their heads.

In many other parts of Kaduna, however, it was calm. Some residents who took refuge in police stations and army bases began returning to their shattered homes, searching smoking ruins for belongings.

Security forces continued patrolling other major Nigerian cities, including the northern trading hub of Kano, where Muslim women peacefully protested Friday.

Islamic groups have complained for months that the beauty pageant promotes promiscuity. But organizers insisted the women never intended to offend anyone.

Tensions boiled over after a national newspaper suggested the Islamic prophet Muhammad would have approved of the event.

"What would Muhammad think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from among them," Isioma Daniel wrote in ThisDay on Nov. 16.

The newspaper published a brief front-page apology Monday, and lengthier retractions Thursday and Friday that said the passage had run by mistake.

But Muslims were offended deeply and riots erupted, first in Kaduna. By Friday, they spread to the capital, where Muslims stormed through the city, burning cars and assaulting bystanders they believed were Christians.

President Olusegun Obasanjo said "irresponsible journalism" set off the turmoil. But ethnic and religious fighting is a fact of life in Africa's most populous nation.