ANGOLA staged its first beauty contest this week for women who have been maimed by anti-personnel mines planted during the country's decades long civil war.
Eighteen women took part in Wednesday night's beauty pageant in Luanda, the capital, in an event designed to raise awareness of their plight and prove that, despite their injuries, they remained defiant – as well as attractive.
The women posed in
long gowns and in swimsuits during the televised show. They all wore artificial limbs.
Each of the contestants disclosed the details usual to such events. A final piece of information marked the unusual nature of the competition, the type, country of manufacture, amount of explosive and price of each mine that altered their lives.
Angola's civil war ended six years ago but as many as eight million landmines remain buried in the soil. Landmines claim at least 300 victims a year in Angola, according to the United Nations Mine Action Centre.
The minister for family affairs, Candida Celeste, said the event would help people disabled by war to regain their self-esteem. There are around 80,000 amputees in Angola, most of them victims of landmines.
"They showed that they can, that they are able," Celeste told reporters after the contest. The contestants were chosen from each of the country's 18 provinces. The winner, Augusta Urica, 31, is to receive a custom-made artificial limb. She also got $2,500 and a variety of domestic appliances. The prizes were presented by Angola's First Lady, Ana Paula dos Santos.
The contest was organised by Morten Traavik, a Norwegian artist moved by the plight of the country's mine victims. Angola's National De-mining Commission and the European Union also provided support.
Slow recovery from warANGOLA is a typical example of how the slow and delicate process of a country's physical reconstruction and social integration is hampered by landmines left over from civil war.
A struggle for independence from Portugal developed into four decades of warfare between the government of the Soviet-backed Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (Movimento Popular Liberaçâo de Angola, MPLA) and western-backed rebel army Unita, in which both sides made heavy use of landmines. The presence of mines on roads has proved a major obstacle to the movement of people and resources, and post-war social stabilisation and economic recovery.
Angola signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December, 1997, during a temporary cessation of hostilities, but as civil war broke out again in 1998 both sides resumed the laying of mines.
