Gaddafi plays host to beauty pageant

The hours may be long and the enemies many but one of the perks of dictatorship must surely be the chance to stage your own beauty contest.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi took time out to host Libya's first Miss World pageant. And while some might think that such a spectacle of sexual frivolity sits uncomfortably with the traditions of a Muslim country, feminists found an unlikely ally in the north African leader as the swimsuits were replaced by more modest attire. During the closing ceremony the girls wore dresses emblazoned with the leader's own picture.

Women from around the world gathered in the capital, Tripoli, as Libya hosted Miss Net World – a pageant where winners are selected by internet users. Ironically, given Britain's strained relations with Libya, the winner was a 20-year-old from the Home Counties – Lucy Layton, of Hertfordshire.

Ms Clayton, from Digswell, admitted to being perplexed by the venue when it was announced. "I was originally told it was going to be somewhere like Cannes but when they said Libya I was a bit concerned – you know, Colonel Gaddafi, like ouch." But she insisted she was very happy with the outcome after being crowned on Saturday night.

While the contenders from Australia and Thailand were kept away by more pressing engagements, the 23 contestants who turned up in Libya last week were treated to a tour of the country's beaches, desert and historic monuments. Colonel Gaddafi himself entertained the girls with his wit and tales of how his house was once bombed by the Americans. Pictures of him – girls on either arm – have been displayed on the website, www.missnetworld.tv.

Photographs on the site show the girls laughing with the Libyan leader. However, the American entrant, Tecca Zendik, 23, of Los Angeles, is described as crying as he relates details of how her nation bombed his home. US warplanes attacked the Colonel's house in 1986, killing his adopted daughter, after two American soldiers and a Turkish woman died when a Berlin disco was bombed.

The contest – most probably a campaign to promote tourism – had more important implications, insisted its founder, Omar Harfouch. Sanctions imposed in 1992 after the Lockerbie bombing may not have been fully lifted, but Mr Harfouch said the contest's slogan was "beauty will save the world".