Update: African model who disappeared, found safe

Photo: Viewimages.com

UPDATE: BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Police on Friday found Waris Dirie, three days after the Somali-born model who launched a worldwide campaign against female genital mutilation had vanished.

Dirie, 43, appeared to be in good health and was being questioned by police about the disappearance, said Estelle Arpigny, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.

She declined to give further details, saying it was unclear what had happened since Dirie vanished early Wednesday. Belgian media reports said police found her Friday afternoon walking the Brussels’ Grand Place square.

Hours earlier, police had announced they were launching a nationwide search for the former model, who had last been seen getting into a cab after a mix-up over a hotel.

Dirie gained international fame as a model posing in Chanel ads and acting in the 1987 James Bond movie “The Living Daylights” before launching her campaign against female genital mutilation in 1996.

She shocked the world with a best-selling book “Desert Flower” that described how her genitals were sliced off with a dirty razor blade without anesthesia, and then stitched together. (Source)

Waris Dirie, an African-born model famous for campaigning against her homeland’s continued practice of female genitalia mutilation, is missing according to her manager.

Dirie, 43, has not been seen since early Wednesday when police saw her getting into a taxi in Brussels, manager Walter Lutschinger said in a telephone interview.”

We are really very scared,” said Lutschinger, who has been her manager for seven years.
Dirie — who was born in Somalia and now lives in Vienna, Austria — gained international fame as a model posing in Chanel ads and acting in a James Bond film before launching her campaign against female genital mutilation in 1996.

She recounted her own experiences of suffering genital mutilation as a child in the book “Desert Flower,” which became an international best-seller.

Dirie was due to speak to two conferences on women’s rights organized by the European Union in Brussels this week, including one Thursday attended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Dirie’s disappearance comes a week after French police said they’d found the body of another former model of African origin who had campaigned against female genital mutilation.

Katoucha Niane’s body was found floating in the Seine River in Paris. French police said an autopsy showed no signs of foul play, pointing to the possibility that the 47-year-old Niane may have fallen accidentally into the river. READ MORE…

The disappearance of the two women will only serve to shine the spotlight more harshly on the continued torture of innocent women and children in their country.

http://myspace.com/mullatos SnootyPooty1

I hope they find her alive that is so sad…
Terry .W

FGM is no joke, Its a practice that is intentially meant to ensure a woman loses all pleasurable sexual feelings. This is said to keep them faithful to their husbands or to discourage them from indulging in engaging in sex before marriage…..its a shame it still happens today. Its carried out in the most unsanitary ways..which can even lead to extreme bleeding and/or death if done incorrectly…

I hope no harm has come to this woman…
kat

the girl fatima on top model is from somalia and she was saying that she is circumsized and that she can’t have sex with men. that is crazy if you ask me…straight torture. i googled it and saw some pictures of how they do it….very sad. you should see the utensils that they use. they don’t even give these girls pain medication.
ms.peaches

Damn I can’t even imagine having to go through anyhing like that, I pray that she turns up & she is ok!!
bloggergirlz

i can’t fathom going through something like that! every time i read about FGM it sends chills up n down my spine…
alana

What a crazy world we live in. I hope she is ok!
sbabyface29

Thank God I was born in America!
http://myspace.com/mizz_eccentrik Abhor_

^ Although America isnt as drastic as Africa, the U.S. still has its issues with women and sexuality. Back in the day not only were women not allowed to be sexual it was bad for women to be un-pure or have than 1 sexual partner while men were encouraged to sleep with prostitutes until they were ready to be married. The problem with sexuality and women is still very prominent today. If a woman is free sexually she is considered a whore while men are encouraged to be that way…
Bsoul

I’m glad she’s okay. She has already been through a lot.
katgirl33

Ditto Bsoul
http://www.myspace.com/bettathaniwasb4 2bme

hmmm..two women who have spoken out about genital mutilation one was found floating the other, missing and no one knows where or why..call it my conspiracy theory but something is not right with this picture…
shhhh

I’m wonder is this the same one they just said was dead? I just read about an African Top Model that lived on a water boat house, who came up missing after a party. They later suppose to have found her body in the water? IDK
luxe.li.

No the African model found dead, her name is Katoucha.
kpakpando

Who wrote this? “The disappearance of the two women will only serve to shine the spotlight more harshly on the continued torture of innocent women and children in their country.”

Sandra I hope that’s not you because Katoucha is from Guinea in West Africa, and Waris is from Somalia in East Africa, completely different countries.

Another note, FGM/circumcision is not practiced in many (dare I say most) places in Africa… and is mostly seen with those with Muslim backgrounds.
Please click to the map where the practice is prevalent:
http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/fgm/fig1.htm
Anna

2be me, I agree with you. Something is not right. This is no coincendence. and @sbabyface29, I would not have wanted to be born anywhere else but the good ole USA.
tbrown

I’m glad she was found. I remember reading about Waris many years ago…maybe it was in Essence mag. Alice Walker wrote a book, fiction, about female genital-mutilation…Temple of My Familiar I think was the title. Good book. Horrible subject. Pissed me off that these men do this to women to make it more pleasureable for them. Evil, it is and just plain wrong.
TC

@kpak…who cares about the exact locations and what religion…IT HAPPENS! I appreciate the link, but there is more color on that map for you to say NOT “many”. ONE IS TOO MANY!The time it took to click on that link, many more young girls have been violated. It happens in the U.S. also.(underground)…wasn’t there a case in ATL?

I bet Waris was kidnapped and drugged so she couldn’t attend the conference(s).
http://www.myspace.com/millyly milly

Wow I’m glad shes ok, its sad that some women are still put through this type of abuse and pain.

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