World News 22-11-2002 Miss World Pageant Massacre who: Nigerian Red Cross president Emmanuel Ijewere what: Says more than 50 people died in riot over Miss World contest where: Nigeria when: Yesterday snippet: "At least 12 people have been killed in the Nigerian city of Kaduna after protests against next month`s Miss World beauty competition descended into bloody violence," reports the BBC. Reports of the death toll varied wildly (ITV news reports "at least 105") as thousands of Muslim youths blockaded major highways with bonfires, destroyed vehicles, attacked hotels and burned at least four churches, sparked off by a reports in the Lagos-based This Day newspaper on Wednesday which, says Sky News, suggested "the Prophet Mohammad would probably have chosen to marry one of the beauty queens if he had seen them". The newspaper offices were subsequently burned down. Nigerian Red Cross president, Emmanuel Ijewere, said that "more than 50 people were stabbed, bludgeoned or burnt to death and 200 were seriously injured," according to The Independent. "The collision of two worlds - the beauty queens bathed in glamour and glitter and poor African Muslims observing the Ramadan fast in all its modesty - was enough to ensure that the explosion of violence was waiting to happen," writes Alex Duval Smith. But, he continues, the success of the pageant is an important exercise in international relations for President Olusegun Obasanjo whose future in power is vitally important to US president George W Bush`s plans to break down the OPEC oil cartel. [... more]

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