DATE=1/12/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=DAKAR / CAIRO RALLY (L)
NUMBER=2-257998
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Organizers of the Dakar-to-Cairo endurance
rally are making preparations (ED'S: have begun) to
airlift several-hundred vehicles and 15-hundred
participants in the race from Niamey, the capital of
Niger, to southern Libya. The airlift, unprecedented
in the more than 20-years of the rally, was launched
after a terrorist threat obliged organizers to cancel
four legs through the northern desert of Niger.
Correspondent Scott Bobb reports.
TEXT: Organizers say the airlift will take four-days
and the rally is to resume Monday or Tuesday, after
vehicles, equipment and competitors are flown from
Niamey to airports in (Sabbah and Waw el-Kebir)
southern Libya.
They say they cancelled the next four legs of the
famous endurance test after the French government said
it believed there was a serious risk of an external
terrorist attack in northern Niger.
The government of Niger fought Touareg rebels in the
north during the 1990's and anti-government rebels are
also operating in the northern regions of neighboring
Chad. But sources say they believe the threat comes
from militants of Algeria's Armed Islamic Group, which
has been fighting the government in Algiers since the
cancellation of elections eight-years ago, which
Islamist parties appeared likely to win.
The government of Niger last year arrested a group of
these guerrillas while they were entering the country
from Algeria.
/// REST OPT ///
Tuesday's leg of the rally, from Ouagadougou, Burkina
Faso, to Niamey was won by Portugal's Carlos Sousa,
who made the nearly 700-kilometer run across forest
and desert tracks in less than six hours. France's
Stephane Peterhansel came in second in the leg, while
overall rally-leader, Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan, came
in third.
Competitors were disappointed by the cancellation of
the remaining legs in Niger, which are said to be
among the most difficult in the rally. The race is
due to end at Egypt's Giza pyramids in 10-days.
(SIGNED)
NEB/SB/GE/ENE/RAE
12-Jan-2000 11:41 AM EDT (12-Jan-2000 1641 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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