Globalization
fake British monarch meets fake (British?) village:
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- As leaders of her former colonies converge for a
Commonwealth summit, Queen Elizabeth II was to visit a mock-up Nigerian village
populated by actors playing villagers, coming as close to ordinary people of
this country as she is likely to because of security concerns.
The 72-year-old British monarch's virtual-Africa tour Thursday falls on the eve
of the opening of the 52-nation summit, with organizers struggling to keep
sanctions against Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe from dominating the agenda and
dividing Commonwealth leaders.
Elizabeth and Prince Philip opened their two-day state visit Wednesday, marking
the queen's first return to Nigeria since 1956.
Elizabeth then was only four years into her reign, and Nigeria, then Britain's
most populous remaining colony, was still four years away from independence.
Her first visit lasted far longer than this one -- 20 days. Her husband went
surfing then, and the young queen "adopted" -- or sponsored -- a 10-year-old
leper girl.
"Queen Elizabeth mingled with hundreds of lepers today and found them all
cheerful," an AP report from that first trip said.
On this visit, time constraints and security concerns were to limit the queen's
contact with working-class Nigerians to a walk Thursday through a mock village
constructed by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The village at Karu, 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of the capital, Abuja, is
the set of a BBC radio soap opera, with its plot set in a Nigerian market.
Local traders have been allowed to set up stalls for the occasion, but will be
kept 100 meters (yards) back, authorities say.
The radio actors would be allowed to meet the queen, but it was unclear whether
the market-sellers would come within range.
Prince Philip was slated to visit health and environment projects Thursday in
the sprawling commercial capital of Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa's most crowded
city.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose 1999 election ended 15 years of military
rule and Nigeria's ostracism by the Commonwealth, welcomed the British royal
couple at Abuja's airport Wednesday.
* joshua, 2/24/2004 08:36:44 PM
