MILITANTS linked to al-Qaeda yesterday forced the cancellation of the world-famous Dakar Rally for the first time in the event's 30-year history.
French rider Richard Sainct among Mauritanian dunes in 2002
Amaury Sport, the France-based organisation in charge of the 6,000km rally, said in a statement it had been advised by the French government to cancel the race, which was to begin in Lisbon today and end in Dakar, capital of Senegal, on 20 January.
Four French tourists were murdered in Mauritania last month – a country across which much of the rally runs.
The organiser said direct threats had also been made against the event by "terrorist organisations".
There had been repeated calls for the race, originally known as Paris-Dakar, to be cancelled over security fears and the danger the fast-riding cars, motorbikes and trucks across the deserts of north Africa pose to people living along the route.
Amaury Sport said: "Based on the current international political tension and the murder of four French tourists … but also the direct threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organisations, no other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken."
France warned the rally organisers on Thursday against holding stages in Mauritania because it said "the terrorist risk" cannot be ruled out.
Three attackers, whom authorities suspect were linked to al-Qaeda, gunned down four French tourists and injured a fifth as they enjoyed a Christmas Eve picnic by the roadside in the south of the country, near the border with Senegal.
Gunmen killed three soldiers three days later in the remote and sparsely-populated north of the country, bordering Algeria and Morocco's breakaway territory of Western Sahara.
Al-Qaeda in North Africa, in a statement posted on a website that it often uses, criticised Mauritania's government for "providing suitable environments to the infidels for the rally."
It did not directly call for attacks on the race or on teams taking part.
France's sports minister, Bernard Laporte, said the rally's cancellation would have "disastrous economic consequences" for countries where the rally passed through but added that security issues would have to come first.
"After a point you can't just talk about economics. You have to talk first about security," he told reporters during a visit to Guadeloupe.
A spokesman for Mauritania's president, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, said in a statement he regretted the decision and insisted that "despite the isolated cases of killings, Mauritania remained a safe, welcoming, hospitable and open country."
Most African officials were also quick to criticise the decision, fearing the move will tarnish even more the image of the continent and deprive it of much-needed foreign investment from the passage of hundreds of racing vehicles.
"The cancellation of the rally is not only a great loss for Senegal, but for all the countries crossed by the race," said Mamadou Dia, of Senegal's sports ministry.
The rally, one of the toughest and most dangerous challenges in motorsport, had been due to arrive in Mauritania on 11 January, with eight stages in that country until 19 January.
"The decision was taken for good reasons but it's very annoying," said André Dessoud, who heads the Nissan team.
"We worked for months and invested a lot of money. I don't have a clue about what we are going to do. We have lost all the petrol we have sent ahead of the race and we'll have to call back the lorries which carried the cars to Lisbon."
Some 570 teams – including at least one from Scotland – had registered for the 30th edition of the event with Mitsubishi seeking their eighth successive win in the car category.
Competitors included France's former downhill skiers Luc Alphand and Carolle Montillet, Olympic and world boxing champion Brahim Asloum and former Formula One drivers Tiago Monteiro of Portugal and Japan's Ukyo Katayama.
"This is a sad moment for the teams," said Carlos Sousa, a Portuguese driver who has participated in 11 Dakar rallies.
DAKAR DANGER ROUTETHE rally'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 organisers' 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 organisers to cancel individual stages or re-route the race. In 2000 several stages were scrapped after a threat forced organisers 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-Qaeda's north Africa affiliate there.
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 11 December twin truck bombings that killed at least 37 people at UN offices and a government building.
