Dakar cancellation a disaster
07/01/2008 14:00  - (SA)  

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Dakar: Cancellation criticised Dakar Rally cancelled Dakar: Longer, bigger, tougher

Dakar - The last-minute cancellation of the 2008 Dakar Rally will cause a "mini-tsunami" in the fragile economies of the African countries it was due to pass through, a Senegalese paper said on Monday.

"In terms of lost profits, heavy losses and financial consequences, the cancellation of the 30th rally is the equivalent, for our fragile economies, of a real mini-tsunami," wrote the editor of the group that publishes Le Matin newspaper in a front-page editorial.

It recognised that the primary goal of the organisers had to be the security of the competitors.

But it added that "giving in to the threats of Bin Laden (head of the Al Qaeda network) or other terrorists, it's as if we're rolling out the red carpet for them, and it (will make them believe) they've triumphed over all the security measures taken by Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal combined."

The Lisbon-Dakar Rally was called off by organisers on January 5 following threats to its safety purportedly from the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb.

Those threats came in the wake of the murder on December 24 of four French tourists in Mauritania.

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