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French Foreign Ministry tends cancelling Paris-Dakar Rally for Al-Qaeda threats

Wednesday Dec 24 2008.

The French Government is making big pressures on Organizing Committee of Paris-Dakar Rally to cancel some of the race stages in Africa, for security concerns,

noting that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has already threatened later last month to target the participants, which forced cancelling 2008 edition.

French Foreign Ministry further mentioned that it prefers, for the moment, not delivering further details on the stages that are prone to the threats, while calling Organizing Committee of Paris-Dakar Rally to take such recommendations into consideration.

However, the stages which are supposed to be cancelled are likely located on the Mauritanian lands; while the threats are originated from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. To recall, French had managed cancelling Paris-Dakar Rally’s 2008 edition, for the first time since its creation in 1978, following political pressures on organizers and tourist agencies in charge of transporting the race fans and advertising operators along the race track.

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