Originally Posted by
Dave_S
Let's get some perspective - Africa is a fantastic, diverse continent with a lot of ordinary people who just want to get on with it and live their lives. A very small minority know how to manipulate the conditions that exist in parts of the continent to cause a huge amount of trouble.
The people looking to disrupt the Dakar rally may or may not exist. A lot of people in north Africa hate the French (they ruled and exploited several countries in the region) and people have always made threats. Bandits have also taken shots at some competitors in the past. But in the past that hasn't been much of a problem. The point is that today you can cancel nearly anything and justify nearly any action by playing the "terrorism" card.
Africa's problems run way too deep for any meaningful discussion here. The Dakar pours millions of dollars into the countries it passes through so the Africans involved will be just as disappointed as everyone else. The only people who are happy are a few lunatics who can now commit a few random murders, call it terrorism and watch the rest of us run around like scared children.
