lisbon-dakar canceled after attacks in RIM :(
 

from the official website:



Lisbon, Friday the 4th of January 2008

A.S.O. cancels the 2008 edition of the Dakar rally
After different exchanges with the French government - in particular the Ministry for Foreign Affairs - , and based on their firm recommendations, the organisers of the Dakar have taken the decision to cancel the 2008 edition of the rally, scheduled from the 5th to the 20th of January between Lisbon and Senegal’s capital.

Based on the current international political tension and the murder of four French tourists last 28th of December linked to a branch of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, but also and mainly the direct threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organisations, no other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken by A.S.O.

A.S.O.’s first responsibility is to guarantee the safety of all: that of the populations in the countries visited, of the amateur and professional competitors, of the technical assistance personnel, of the journalists, partners and rally collaborators. A.S.O. therefore reaffirms that the choice of security is not, has never been and will never be a subject of compromise at the heart of the Dakar rally.

A.S.O. condemns the terrorist menace that annihilates a year of hard work, engagement and passion for all the participants and the different actors of the world’s biggest off-road rally. Aware of the huge frustration, especially in Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal, and beyond the general disappointment and the huge economical consequences in terms of direct and indirect repercussions for the countries visited, A.S.O. will continue to defend the major values of great sporting events and will carry on its engagement for a durable development through the Actions Dakar, started 5 years ago in sub-Saharan Africa with SOS Sahel International.

The Dakar is a symbol and nothing can destroy symbols. The cancellation of the 2008 edition does not endanger the future of the Dakar. To offer, for 2009 a new adventure to all the off-road rally passionate is a challenge that A.S.O. will take on in the months to come, faithful to its engagement and its passion for sports.

Stay in bed, wrap up warm and don't do anything which raises the heart rate: guaranteed safety & security for a long life!

Common sense
 

As the head of the french broadcasters said...... common sense prevailed.
I agree.

It took more guts to cansel than to continue.
After direct threats from terrorist groups againt the rally and its riders, it was the rigth decission.

Theese are not adventure riders. They are proffesional riders and driver in a competiton.

Congratulations to ASO for having the guts to cansel.
If they didnt and 1 life got lost to terrorism, Paris Dakar would have been history due to bad leadership and philosphy.

Dizzie,

It is a mindgame, and the terrorist mentality is winning the game.

"One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic" - Joe Stalin (he understood the Western mentality).

"Going to war without the French is like going to war without your accordian" - you can look this one up.

Apart from that, the PD may be history in any case; who is going to spend and prepare in the next year when the French Govn can cancel it at one day's notice?

Was it not ASO, and not the French Gov that cancelled the event?

Everyone has been put in a 'catch 22' position, It shows once again that terrorism can never be beaten. Without actually doing anything to the rally they(the terrorists) have forced it's cancellation. In theory they could 'finish' the event for ever by threatening future 'Dakars'. On ther other hand if the threats were ignored and people were injured/killed, ASO would themselves be'finished'. :thumbdown:

"It doesn't work like that" - recent advert on UK TV (but very accurate statement).

I agree Dave, I think it is finished, for the immediate future anyway.

This is terrible news.My sympathies to the father and family of those murdered by these scum and also to the families of the soldiers i hear were killed.And to all the teams that have got out there to race.
I have literally just finished packing my panniers for my trip down to watch some sections.I was due to leave Alicante tomorrow morning.I wanna SCREAM!
Similar thing happened in 2001 when the TT was cancelled,although i think there were a couple of months notice given on that one.Why cancel at such short notice?:censored:
I will still leave tomorrow morning minus camping epuipment.....lost that edge now though.
Anyone else still going down?We could meet up for a beer......well!we will have all the time in the world....unless we organise our very own RACE to DAKAR.

I agree with Walkabout. This is a sort of mindgame and who step back loses the game!!

I am sure that the western governments are be able to secure the race, but, it looks that they just dont want it. they dont want to spend money and time with a desert race.

hope it wont be canceled forever.

Still planning to go. No choice, seeing as the bike's in a truck somewhere in Spain, but I would continue anyway as the Rally is only the sideshow to having fun in the sun in Morocco.

More details on my blog: There and Back Again

Tim

Terrorist 1 everyone else 0
 

So the Terrorists win again....... I wonder if the organisers of the Dakar will refund Fees to the Competitors?
Or will they use the usual "Terrorism/Acts of god are not Insured for so sorry you lose your Money Line"...........?

Either way, There are a lot of people gonna be SERIOUSLY out of pocket!


Martyn

There are not only professionals and race teams in the Dakar.

There are "Privateers" from many countries, some of who have put their life savings into getting to the Dakar.

To cancel it at such a late stage is a disaster for many people.

There are also many riders who have gone to follow the rally. A lot of them will be in Portugal now.

Why was this decision not made weeks ago?

So the Dakar has gone, live to race another day.
Terrorists don't come onto the battlefield and say I am here come and get me they hide in the shadows.
Slowly,slowly, catchy monkey.

Ian

Best thing to do in the circumstances and the right attitude Tim.

If you don't mind me saying so, Lisbon-Dakar never sounded right anyway, nothing like the sound of "P-D". :rolleyes2: :smile2:

Killing of 4 French tourists was on or around 28 Dec, Christmas and New Year get in the way of decision making & listening to the advice of the bureaucrats and Sarkocey (spelling?) is relatively new in the job - that list will do for a start.

Tim, how safe with your knowledge and experiance would travel to Senagal be we are already in Essouria waiting to travel down in time for the cancelled stages any advice would be helpfull but please only realtime or fact based
regards
Steve

24th December.

What do terrorists have to gain from cancelling the Dakar anyway - just to make a few peoples lives more miserable?

Dakar Rally
 

So terrorists win again -- because we let them. Proposals for ID cards in the UK are another example of terrorism winning (and a cynical gvmt exploiting the situation). My apologies for being political, I know that this is not really the place for this stuff.

I wonder what the 'specific threats' against the rally were, or was it more to do with ASO's insurance company advising that they will pull the plug if they go ahead ... That and the truly awful health and safety culture which is slowly crippling society and individual aspiration.

However, one could say in fairness, the rally route this year did stray towards areas of Mauritania which are less than safe -- but surely this has been the situation on previous years.

We will never see a stable world if every time some mysterious character with an AK47 pops his head up and makes threats, we simply cave in. This is not about having destructive wars on terror, it's about simply getting on with things planned.

The rally should have gone ahead and in the extremely unlikely event that anything had hapenned, the terrorists would probably have been the ones to have trashed their cause in this instance. As it is ASO should be regarded as having egg on their faces and Mauritania cannot now escape being viewed as a dodgy place to go, when in fact it's really not.

Bin Laden (if he is still alive) must be rubbing his hands in glee.

ASO have done the Dakar Rally no favours at all, have badly let down North and West African countries and probably discouraged many potential overlanders from visiting these amazing countries and cultures.

A more proper response would have been to ask the Rally participants themselves to decide if the Dakar was to go ahead or not.

I'm due to ship out there on the 18th with Barbara, riding from Malaga to Bissau, via Mauri, Mali, Senegal and Gambia. We're still planning on going.

Heard from Fil S last night who yesrerday arrived in Bamako on his R1150GS. He tells me that Mauritania is OK. There's masses of extra security on the Road of Hope east of NCT because of the murders and there have been some floods on the road near Ayoun, but he seems to have had a smooth enough trip.

The ironic thing is that the dreadfull murders on Christmas Eve have probably made a visit to Mauritania safer, not more dangerous.

I apologise for being controversial and await the trashing.

Cheers

Craig

As I understand it, the Dakar was cancelled because of terrorist threats coming from Al Qaeda. The terrorists claimed that they would act against any French participants in the race who crossed Mauritanian soil.

The race organisers said that it was the French Government who had asked them to consider the option of cancelling the rally.

Etienne Lavingne was in Maurtania at the end of last month to see whether the authorities there could guarantee the safety of the participants, but that guarantee couldn't be given.

I'm disappointed it's been cancelled and yes the terrorists have won again, but the safety of the participants ultimately has to take precedence and I'm interested to see what they have to say about it being cancelled at the eleventh hour.

let me get this right?
 

So if the French, had pulled out, it would have still gone ahead??? :confused1:

No offence to the French, but they could have pulled out and let everyone else get on with it!

Martyn

Illuminating, thanks.

The problem is that there is a tendency of Governments, media and individuals to treat 'Al Qaeda' as if it's some huge organised global corporation with a tower block head quarters somewhere in Afganistan with a rotating logo on the roof.

'Al Qaeda' is not much more than a philosophy and an idea, which exists 'like the wind' as Lawrence wrote in 'Seven Pillars'. This 'idea' and name is taken up by disparate groups of rebels, or in some cases common criminals and other such groups who share a broadly a similar ideology, or have convenient reasons to call themselves 'Al Qaeda'.

The probable reality of what we are talking here, is a bunch of characters who I understand are based in the Algerian Mahgreb, who have perhaps a handfull of operatives in the Mauri area, some of whom are known to the Mauritanian Government.

This is what seems to have emerged from the coverage of the Christmas Eve murders anyway.

So the Rally has been cancelled on the basis of threats from a few probably ill eqipped rebels, who may not even have the resources to harrass the rally, but who have adopted a big international name which strikes fear in the hearts of those who hear it.

Such is the power of an idea.

An idea which has been lent greater power and credibility by the cancellation of the rally.

C

Nope, see post #6.

Not as easy as that mate the PD is a French event with French organisers I would imagine trying to get a team together of non french organisers in two days might be difficult.

It does not take very much to rattle a western Government: a great weakness of a democracy/free press.

The main road from Nouadhibou to Rosso passing by the capital Nouackchott is one of the two main travel arteries in the country, so I would hope the Mauri government could manage to keep it relatively safe. It's also a long way from the areas where the tourists and soldiers were attacked.

I will be looking at various web sites--note the UK government hasn't changed its travel advice other than to note the Dakar cancellation: Travel Advice by Country*Foreign & Commonwealth Office--and checking with other travellers before making the decision whether to transit Mauri.

One option might be to travel 'par convoi' with others. Conversely perhaps it might be better to ride solo 'like the wind'...

Thanks.

That may have been a freudian 24 + 4 = 28, or maybe I just forgot!!

Areas of Concern, Mauritania
 

Hello, I noticed in one of the postings that it was stated that,

" However, one could say in fairness, the rally route this year did stray towards areas of Mauritania which are less than safe -- but surely this has been the situation on previous years."

I was just wondering what areas were of concern. I read the advisorys from the Foreign and Common Wealth office and they said the border with Algeria, and the border near Mali or east of the city Nema in Mauritania were the unsafe areas. And that the Area leading through and to the Capital were relatively safe. However, the murders on Xmas Eve took place only 160 miles east of the Capital Nouakchott. So im just wondering, Which is it? What areas in the country are stated as the safer passage through Mauritania from Morrocco to Senegal? And wasnt the Dakar rally supposed to stop in the capital...where it was presumed safer then the easter portion of the country. Any help here would be great, I really dont know what to think about it all. I would like to take a trip, maybe next year. Im expecting things or specific routes to be safer possibly, with added security , but who knows.

Thanks Tim I have holed up in Agadir awaiting any news from anyone travelling up I will wait to see if any news here until Monday then head for the boarder, any genuine news from any one is allways helpfull all the very best

Steve

It makes me laugh when people of power state 'terrorists will not change the way we live!' what a load of bollocks that is, take a look at London since the bombings, the place has lost its marbles with CCTV and rent-a-cops everywhere.

The Dakar route for this year went deep into the east of Mauritania and the french citizens killed I heard where a group pre running the course for ASO. I think the killing so close to "home" and the direct threat and the pressure from the french goverment pushed them into cancelling. I could not imagine how much unrest in Mauritania although i would imagine the main routes will be safe the terrost's have acheived there goal there would be little international press coverage in abducting travellers.

I find it odd the US government has stayed out of this. Maybe they are just waching how the EU handels terrorists problems over seas.

In all truth the terrorists are alwas going to win if the French pull the race the terrorists win, if they do not terrorists kill some riders and win, if the French send in troops the terrorists cry boohoo and the rest of the word hates the French and terrorists win.

The terrorists are not only willing to die for there ideas but want to, there is no way to beat that. Some day we will blink and the terrorists will win there will be a world war.

Or we can just kill them all. :rofl:

I'm sorry... why on earth would the US Government get involved? Do they have some sort of monopoly on dealing with Terrorists / Freedom Fighters / Religious Fanatics? Perhaps if they looked at recent EU history they'd see we'd been dealing with them for an awful lot longer.

Sorry slightly terse.

When has the US Government stayed out of anything? The USG sees something they do not like sanctions and troops are not soon behind reasoning has nothing to with it.

Thats just it the now EU dose have a long history of dealing with killings and bombings. They do not seem to go off there nut.

long rant from here down

For example take Cuba 50 some miles off the US cost. The US has had an embargo on it before I was born. I cant go there. If I do (and the US knows about it) I can go to jail. They say its to stop the flow of US dollers in to Cuba but its legal for a ExCuban to send all the money he want there and go there 2 times a year. If your Cuba and want to spy on the US how cool is that. The US dose this because Cuba is some how a terrorists state. I can go on and on about how nuts the US embargo is but you get the idea.

Iran wants a nuke and a reactor. The US is considering first strike against them before they can get it up. Iran has more than enuf uranium for a dirty bomb and has had it for years.

Iraq always been unstable the US gose to war and thinks it can win the harts and minds of people taught from berth to hate us. Oddly enuf it was Iran that gave the intel the US need on Iraq and Husain right before Fat Head calls them a terrorist state and the enemy.

Any of this sound like a good idea? Look at it this way I cant go places I want to because my government wont keep its nose out other peoples dirty bits. I cant change it because (well I only get one vote and dont live in a state that matters for USA federal government) the only other people that can get the job will do the same dam thing. Home of the free and brave my ass. There both agest the law now.

"why on earth would the US Government get involved"

Matt, the americans are already involved under the auspicess of the pan sahel aggrement and if the last 50 years have taught us anything it's that the americans think a) that they know whats best and b) if there's trouble they want to be in there first
The following link is to an old post but worth reading all the way through

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ling+artefacts

Watch out for those 'food parcels'[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Chris/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.jpg[/IMG]:closedeyes:

"Do they have some sort of monopoly on dealing with Terrorists / Freedom Fighters / Religious Fanatics?"

unfortunately for the rest of the world, the US does have a monopoly on terrorism. So they have a finger in pies as far a field as ethiopia to uk. they have a major influence on policy. which for uk people should be a worry. at least puppet blair has gone.

Suspects Captured
 

Suspected French tourist killers questioned in Mauritania
2 hours ago

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — Two Mauritanian suspects and three alleged accomplices arrested in Guinea-Bissau for the December murders of four French tourists have been placed in custody, a legal source said Monday.

"They have been in detention since Saturday evening," said the source, who asked not to be named but added that the law provided for up to 15 days custody for offences "related to terrorism, serious crime and state security."

Two of the three suspected killers were extradited on Saturday, along with three other Mauritanians arrested early Friday by police in Bissau, after a manhunt extending over several west African countries, aided by French intelligence services.

They have been questioned in Mauritania by a state security and terrorism panel and will be referred to the state prosecutor to be charged when police have finished their preliminary inquiries, a source in the prosecutor's office said.

Police manhunts for the three men believed to have carried out the December 24 attack in Mauritania's southern Aleg region, in which four French people were shot dead and a fifth wounded, led to the capture of the two in Guinea-Bissau's capital, but the third is still at large.

Guinea-Bissau investigators said the two men arrested confessed to having fired on the French adventure tourists, and expressed "no remorse" at having killed "infidels and American allies".

One of the murder suspects, Sidi Ould Sidna, told journalists just before boarding a military flight from Bissau to Nouakchot that "Guinea-Bissau will pay dearly for having mistreated God's fighters".

A special Mauritanian police commission is probing Al-Qaeda links, but the authorities have issued no official comment on progress and the two men, plus the three accused of helping them, are being detained in secret.

Both murder suspects had previously been arrested in connection with the extremist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which in January 2007 affiliated itself with Al-Qaeda.

Ould Sidna, born in 1987 in Nouakchott, was acquitted in July 2007 of charges relating to the recruitment of young Mauritanians to fight in Al-Qaeda's name in Somalia, police said.

Ould Sidi Chabarnou, born in 1981 also in Nouakchott, has been arrested several times without ever standing trial.

The three alleged accomplices were arrested on Friday evening in Bissau as they "filmed French (security) officers," Guinea-Bissau's deputy director of police, Edmundo Mendes, told AFP at the weekend.

"These arrests are the result of a vast operation led by teams from our overseas security force," said a French security official.

For several years now, French intelligence agents in the region have sent regular bulletins to Paris on the former GSPC's activities.

Eight other Mauritanians suspected of having helped the killers and who were arrested soon after the probe began in Aleg were also still in detention on Monday, a source close to the inquiry said.

The Al-Qaeda-linked group is said to count some 500 armed men, 400 of whom are active in Algeria with another 100 located in the Saharan desert zone between Mauritania, Mali and Niger.

The roadside killing and an attack on a military base in north Mauritania two days later, which left three soldiers dead, led to the cancellation of the Dakar 2008 motor rally across the Sahara.

The Al-Qaeda-affiliated group claimed responsibility for the attacks on Mauritanian troops.

Team America!
 

Matt, You Obviously haven't seen the Thunder-birds Parody film "TEAM AMERICA- World Police" made by the same guys who made Southpark.

Hilarious......BUT OH SO TRUE!

Martyn

Thanks for posting that.

The Terrorists win again...
 

Why do we continue to give in to terrorists threats. Each time we give cave in to their threats, we've been terrorized, and they have achieved their objective.
Obviously, these fanatics desire an Islamic world; each time we capitulate we bring them closer to realizing their objective. Now they don't even need to commit acts of violence. When we live in fear all they need do is tell us what to do or what not to do and we will obey unquestioningly. They've already won.
Without the essential ingredient of our own fear, terrorism is useless, that's why it's called terrorism. When do we decide to take a stand? What's going to happen when the terrorists demand we cancel the Olympic games, or the world cup?
Each time we give in to their demands we give them a victory, we give them 'ground' that will be extremely difficult to to regain.
I feel that canceling the rally was an error in judgment based on fear. Remember, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself".

I have always believed that you can never beat terrorists, although like everyone else I am not happy to see the Dakar cancelled, but what could the rally organisers do?
What would have been said if the terrorists 'brought down' one of those big Dakar planes, or any competitors were shot, blown up or kidnapped, when it was known a threat had been made against the rally, it is so easy for the Dakar armchair followers to say it should have gone ahead, but if you were asked to ride across a section of desert that may or may not be mined, would you do it?...think not.
It all comes down to possibilities, and it was possible that the rally could have been attacked, and it is also possible that the Olympics, World Cup or any other big sporting occaision could be targeted.
The World we now live in post 9/11 is one where we have to take notice, look around you at work,social gatherings etc, it's all about risk assessments, insurance and 'covering your back'. Who would ever take the decision after a threat to say. "F:censored:K em the rally goes ahead?" either someone very brave or totally stupid.

Geoff, Dave,

Both of you are absolutely right. The trick is to try and strike a balance to steer through these threats, mitigate where possible, but not be diverted.

I maintain that the choice to go ahead with the Dakar should have been down to the riders and drivers. They should have been fully briefed on the concerns and asked to make their own minds up. I bet that the majority would have gone ahead.

The problem that we have these days in our own comfortable world is that we've forgotten that freedom ain't free. Maintaining that freedom does mean taking risks, sometimes at an individual level. This is why the Rally participants should have been consulted, rather than leaving the decision to organisers which were at the receiving end of strong arm lobbying from fearful armchair strategists and politicians in Paris.

I'm sure that the Mauri gvmt and army would have moved heaven and hell to do what they could to ensure security, as would the authorities in Western Sahara. Indeed, an opportunity for improved cross border cooperation between two rival countries may have been lost.

One of the things that I've always liked about the travel and overlanding side of life is that even though risks are sometimes taken to complete a journey or country, people who would possibly not otherwise often see westerners get exposed to us and mostly in a positive way. We may not set out to influence hearts and minds, but we do leave an impression with the people we meet. I hesitate to use the term 'ambassadors', but in a small way we are. We show the quiet faces of ordinary people from our countries. Faces that are masked by the sometimes catastrophic foreign policy decisions of our Governments.

If we stay away, then sometimes all that's left is the propaganda of those who would wish to do us down. Fear and suspicion is fostered and in a few extreme cases radical views can gain a foothold.

Cancelling the rally gives those negative views a firmer foothold.

Therefore measured risks should sometimes be taken, if only to provide a more positive view of our society which can be generated by those of us who reach out to other societies by the nature of our travel. 'They ain't all bad' is a better view for citizens of developing countries to hold of us. Better that, than let anti western radicalism have a free hand to form opinions.

Freedom ain't free, but simple things, like travel and mixing with other cultures and peoples means that it doesn't have to be that expensive either.

I just hope that the Dakar cancellation hasn't made life for us 'independants' just that tiny bit more awkward. (though going by the Plymouth/Dakar Rally field reports, Mauri is still just fine for travel)

Well, that's enough of my armchair ranting. In 10 days I'll be in Mauritania with Barbara and the GS. It will be interesting to see if anything has changed since our last visit.

Regards

Craig

Rename it!
 

Call it the Lisbon to Dakar Jihad. Maybe they will donate money?????

Too late
 

I maintain that the choice to go ahead with the Dakar should have been down to the riders and drivers. They should have been fully briefed on the concerns and asked to make their own minds up. I bet that the majority would have gone ahead.[quote]


It would not have just been down to riders/drivers, how about all the support crews, and the plane and helicopter pilots?. With such short notice it would have been a major logisitcal headache, negociations need to be made before next years rally also becomes another farce, saying that, there is still no guarantee that any 'splinter' groups will not make any threats.:(

Looks like something may be happening with the Dakar 2008 after all. Following the email from ASO to everybody on the Dakar mailing list, it's just been announced on Spanish news that there will be 3 phases in 2 continents starting 18 April. No more details were given.

i'll be watching that with interest!

Nice words, and I've quoted you in my blog! The Diama piste to Sénégal « There and Back Again