Ethiopia Miss World contestant mourns murdered sister

Ethiopian Miss World contestant Ruth Yirgalem Weldesilasie is using the pageant in Nha Trang, Vietnam, to speak about violence against women after her elder sister was abducted for ransom and killed.

Ruth, 25, told AFP she was trying to turn grief over the death of 29-year-old Kidusan Yirgalem Weldesilasie into advocacy as 111 contestants gathered for Saturday night's Miss World final.

Kidusan disappeared this summer while Ruth was preparing for the contest. Her remains were discovered in late July. Ruth said her best friend of a decade and the friend's boyfriend are among 10 suspects who have been arrested.

Ruth said she wanted the pageant to become a platform for issues affecting women and girls in Ethiopia. Her social impact projects focus on children's mental wellbeing and maternal health, but she also pointed to broader problems including child marriage and female genital mutilation.

UN data cited by AFP shows nearly 20 million women in Ethiopia were married or in a union before age 18, and female genital mutilation rates are nearly 50 percent among women aged 15 to 49.

A petition calling on Ethiopia's government to declare violence against women a national crisis has received nearly 170,000 signatures.

Ruth said travelling to Vietnam while mourning was difficult, but that she wanted women to see a way forward despite hardship.