Angola to stage 'Miss Landmine Survivor' pageant

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

LUANDA (AFP) — Angola is to stage a beauty contest next month for victims of landmines which still the litter the southwest African nation, six years on from a devastating civil war, organisers said Wednesday.

The "Miss Landmine Survivor" competition is to be held on April 2 as an opportunity to showcase "the beauty in all people", said the National Commission for De-mining and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH).

"The objective of the contest is to restore self-esteem (in women maimed by the mines) and make them ambassadors for their own cause," CNIDAH coordinator Madalena Neto told the state-run Jornal de Angola.

Eighteen women aged between 18 and 35 from every province of Angola will take part in the contest at an upmarket hotel in the capital Luanda....