Rally marathon under attack

A statement issued by the 'Mouvement Critique du Sport' branded the Dakar an "indecent show of luxury in a country of absolute poverty."

The Rally passes through some of the poorest and most war-torn parts of the African continent en route to the finish at Lake Rose in Senegal on January 22.

The group's statement also attacked the rally for "using a continent scarred by Aids, food shortages and crushing debt as a backdrop for sport".

Separatist Groups are also posing a threat to the rally, with the Polisario Front movement opposing the event's passage through the Western Sahara on January 7. The group is fighting for the independence of the former Spanish colony, an area under Morroccan control since 1975. It has threatened to "resume military activities and legitimate defence" of the region when the rally passes through, branding the event "an insult to the Sahrawi people, a challenge to the United Nations and therefore a violation of the ceasefire in effect since September 1991."

The event has been disrupted by terrorist activity for the past two years, with the competitors being airlifted from Niger to Libya in 2000 as a precaution after threats from Algerian fundamentalist groups.

The Paris-Dakar will be contested by 99 cars, 34 trucks and 130 motorcycles this year. Defending champion and former Formula One driver Jean-Louis Schlesser has switched from his own Renault buggy to a version of the Renault Megane this season.