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 | Dakar Rally 2013: Youssou N'Dour "Dakar should come or give back name".
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The legendary Senegalese pop-star and current Senegalese Minister of Tourism Youssou N'Dour said in an interview, that it should be time, that the "Dakar Rally" has to come back to Africa.
Since 2009 the Dakar Rally is held in South America after the last planned edition in Africa was cancelled in 2008 after a controversial "terrorism warning". Insiders assumed political and military reasons instead of terrorism, especially eventually conflicts about oil-rights in Mauretania between France, USA and China.
The French agency AFP reported, that N'Dour´s communications officer Charles Faye said, that for Youssou N´Dour "there is no question of the rally continuing to retain the Dakar name and yet not run in Africa. Either the race resumes in Africa - or it drops the Dakar name. He cannot accept the rally retaining the kudos of the Dakar name and yet not come to Africa."
As the popstar and politican should have said, the Dakar-organizers are free to go where they want - but it would be unfair to earn money with the name "Dakar" (the name of the Capital of Senegal).
Since 2009 the earnings of the Dakar-organizer ASO were more focussed in "Pay-if-we-come" - so instead of Africa, where the organizers of most of all international desert rallys have to pay to the countries for using their areas, the ASO is earning money from the South American countries to "support the Tourism". South American countries like Argentina and Chile were paying millions of US-Dollars to be the host of the rally in the past.
2013/01/09 | 00:03 CET | ARTICLE: MR/HS/SY/AFP
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