Miss World contestants packed their swimsuits and evening gowns Saturday to leave Nigeria, but religious clashes ﾗ ignited in part because of the pageant ﾗ 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.
It remained unclear how many more people may have died during the riots that spread Friday to Abuja, where the contest was to have been held.
Though the capital appeared calm Saturday, pageant officials announced they were moving it to London, where it will be held on Dec. 7, the same day it had been planned for Nigeria.
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.”
Throughout the violence, the more than 80 Miss World contestants remained under Nigerian police and army guard in the Nicon Hilton in Abuja.
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.
Miss Puerto Rico Casandra Polo Berrios told The Associated Press she was “sad to be leaving.” She said she was unaware of the fighting until her mother called on Friday to make sure she was safe.
T’Shura Akeesha Ambrose, Miss Bahamas, expressed relief. “Personally, I am very happy to be moving to London,” said Ambrose, who attends law school there.
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 in the day, 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 had taken refuge in police stations and army bases began returning to their shattered homes, searching smoking ruins for belongings.
Security forces continued to patrol other major Nigerian cities, including the northern trading hub of Kano, where Muslim women peacefully protested on Friday.
Islamic groups have complained for months that the beauty pageant promotes promiscuity. But organizers insisted the women had 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 deeply offended and riots erupted, first in Kaduna. By Friday, they had spread at to the capital where Muslims stormed through the city, burning cars and assaulting bystanders they believed to be 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.
Previous riots in Kaduna have escalated into religious battles that have killed hundreds since civilian government replaced military rule in 1999.
The decision to hold the contest in Nigeria had also stirred controversy in other countries, with at least four contestants saying they would boycott the pageant because of rulings by Islamic courts that sentenced women to death by stoning for having sex outside of marriage.
At least one of the boycotters, Miss Denmark Masja Juel, said she still would not participate in the pageant.
“It should be a happy event, but personally, I feel all the happiness about it is gone,” the hairdressing student said.
By D’Arcy Doran, Associated Press Writer
