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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.
