Dakar Rally Cancelled for First Time in 30 Years Over Terror Concerns

Jan 04, 06:06 PM

PARIS - The annual Dakar Rally was cancelled Friday on the eve of the race because of al-Qaida-linked terror threats and the slaying of a French family in Mauritania by suspected Islamic militants.

It was the first time in the 30-year history of the automobile, motorbike and truck race across the Sahara Desert that it has been called off. In a statement, organizers blamed international tensions, the tourists' Dec. 24 murders and "threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organizations."

"No other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken," they said.

France, where the race organizers are based, had urged the rally to avoid Mauritania after the slaying of the four family members in an attack blamed on a terror cell that uses the Mauritanian desert as a hideout.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he did not want to "stigmatize" Mauritania, but warned of the risks "in a very uncertain region and one crossed by the networks of al-Qaida in North Africa."

"We simply want those who risk a lot to benefit from our information," Kouchner told RTL radio. "We are warning them: It's dangerous."

Patrice Clerc, who heads the company that organizes the rally, confirmed to The Associated Press that threats against the rally had come from al-Qaida's North Africa wing. He said the French government had given explicit warnings that the race was threatened but did not share its intelligence that led to that conclusion.

"When you are told of direct threats against the event and when the sinister name of al-Qaida is mentioned, you don't ask for details," he said in a telephone interview. "It was enough for me to hear my government say "beware, the danger is at a maximum."

"Yes, we perhaps bowed to terrorism but our company today does not have the right to run this risk for all those people who trust it," Clerc added. "We don't have the right to play games with safety."

Al-Qaida in North Africa, in a Dec. 29 statement posted on an Internet site that it often uses, criticized Mauritania's government for "providing suitable environments to the infidels for the rally." It did not directly call for attacks on the race or its participants.

The race, organized by France's Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), had been due to start in Lisbon, Portugal, on Saturday, and finish in Dakar, Senegal, on Jan. 20. Eight of the stages had been set to take place in Mauritania. Some 550 car, truck and bike drivers were expected for the 9,270-kilometre trek.

The race's central appeal - its course through African deserts, scrubland and savannas - is also a weak point for security, making it difficult to protect thousands of people as they traverse such remote regions.

Cyril Neveu, a five-time Dakar winner in the motorcycle category, acknowledged that the race could have been targeted by terrorists.

"It is a big caravan of more than 3,000 people," he told French broadcaster I-Tele. He said he respected the organizers' decision but added: "Many are going to be disappointed."

"Providing security from the first to the last competitor is an onerous job," Neveu added. "One cannot say that there was zero risk."

In the past, terrorism fears have forced organizers to cancel individual stages or reroute the race. In 2000, several stages were scrapped after a threat forced organizers to airlift the entire race from Niger to Libya to avoid danger zones. Several stages were also called off in 2004, reportedly because of terror threats in Mali.

Rally director Etienne Lavigne only recently approved the Mauritanian stages after two stages planned for Mali were scrapped over concerns about al-Qaida's north Africa affiliate there.

French ministers had discussed safety at the rally for the 2008 race at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, and French officials had met with race organizers to discuss the risks.

Only the father of the slain family survived the Christmas Eve attack, in a town 250 kilometres east of the Mauritanian capital as the family picnicked on the side of a road.

That attack was followed by another days later, when three Mauritanian soldiers manning a checkpoint were killed. Mauritania is a largely peaceful Islamic republic that has been rocked by the back-to-back attacks.

Authorities have blamed a terror "sleeper cell" linked to the Algeria-based al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa for the murders of the family. The group claimed responsibility for the killing of the soldiers in an audio tape released to Al-Arabiya TV station.

The group emerged from an alliance between Osama bin Laden's international terrorist network and an Algerian Islamist movement known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. It has claimed responsibility for a string of recent suicide bombings in Algeria, including Dec. 11 twin truck bombings at U.N. offices and a government building that killed at least 37 people.

The Mauritanian government had announced last week that it would mobilize a 3,000-man security force to ensure the race's safety. The country's foreign minister on Friday complained that cancelling the race was not justified.

"We have taken every measure to ensure that the rally goes forward without incident," Foreign Minister Babah Sidi Abdallah told RTL TV.

Mauritania's police force has been tracking the killers of the four tourists, recovering the car they used and arresting a woman who allegedly helped them secure a boat to cross into neighbouring Senegal.

-

Associated Press writers Ahmed Mohamed in Nouakchott, Mauritania, and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report. Dakar Rally Cancelled for First Time in 30 Years Over Terror Concerns
Back to Current Headlines