Europe 1 with AFP 7:04 p.m., December 29, 2022
The Dakar, an emblematic rally-raid repeatedly exposed to security threats and the scene of an explosion just before the 2022 edition, raised its level of alert before the departure on Saturday in Saudi Arabia of its 45th edition, a showcase for Riyadh.
A few hours before the start of the 45th edition of the Dakar, the organizers are tightening security.
The alert level has been raised in the face of security threats.
"We are refocusing everyone, and we are concentrating on the bivouac, that's what we did to take into account what happened last year", comments the boss of the event David Castera, in reference to the explosion that targeted the Dakar 2022 in Jeddah, two days before its departure.
Contrary to tradition, the technical checks of the vehicles and the departure therefore take place not from Jeddah, the second city of the wealthy Gulf monarchy, but from a vast bivouac further north, on the shores of the Red Sea, surrounded by fences and to which the anti-explosive police check access.
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A targeted race
Since its first start in 1978, the former Paris-Dakar has been targeted on several occasions to the point that for its 30th edition, between Lisbon and Dakar, the "direct threats launched against the race by terrorist movements" had forced the organizers to cancel at the last minute.
The race was relocated to Latin America the following year.
Rooted in the Saudi sands since 2020 for a five-year contract, the Dakar is not immune to risks.
The ultra-conservative kingdom is indeed leading a military coalition engaged in neighboring Yemen in conflict since 2015, and is experiencing internal friction.
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“Important in the kingdom 15-20 years ago, the terrorist threat has considerably diminished,” says Jon Alterman, of the Center for strategic and international studies.
"Some of the most serious threats come from Yemen", and al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) group "do not have much reach in the kingdom at this stage".
On December 30, 2021, French driver Philippe Boutron was seriously injured by the explosion of his car in Jeddah, near the hotel where he and the five other occupants of the vehicle had just spent the night.
The crew was heading to the stadium where the checks took place, two days before the start of the Dakar 2022.
As for the circumstances of the "big shock" and "the bomb" mentioned by Philippe Boutron, the vagueness remains.
From the start, Paris stressed that "the hypothesis of a criminal act" was not ruled out.
An investigation was opened in France for attempted assassinations in connection with a terrorist enterprise, and entrusted in November to an investigating judge.
As early as February, a source familiar with the matter indicated that the only possible explanation for the origin of the explosion was due to an "improvised explosive device".
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Broadcast by 70 channels
Investigators are "certain that the explosion was criminal, but there has been no claim," a source familiar with the matter told AFP in mid-November.
According to this source, "the investigation mainly carried out by the Saudis did not lead".
Ryad, who claimed from the outset that it was an "accident", did not respond to recent requests from AFP.
Saudi Arabia will therefore "lock everything down" this year, predicts Agnès Levallois, senior researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research, because "they cannot afford to have the slightest security hitch, in terms of credibility, that would call into question their whole strategy of soft power which goes through sport".
With Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's strategy called "Vision 2030" to diversify an economy dependent on oil, the rules prohibiting major sports competitions in particular are being relaxed to also boost tourism in the historically conservative and closed kingdom.
With this event broadcast by 70 television channels around the world, the Saudis are "playing big" in the hope of one day winning the organization of the Olympic Games, failing to become the first country in the Arab world to host the World Cup. football, honor returned last month to the small neighboring emirate of Qatar.