Bring it back home . . . a competitor speeds past a homestead in the Sahel during the Dakar rally in Africa.
The excitement the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea has generated on the continent and the attention it is receiving overseas have reiterated the importance of Africa to host big sports event.
From the football point of view Africa has really stepped up in recent years, hosting World Cup tournaments in Egypt (under-20), Nigeria (under-17) and South Africa (senior). Morocco has been confirmed to host two world events in football and athletics in the next two years.
Next year Morocco will become the first African country to host the annual Fifa Club World Cup, and also do so in 2014. Japan are the host again this year, after hosting the 2011 edition which was won by Barcelona who beat Brazilian champions Santos in the final match.
Also in 2014 the north African of country will host the World Cup in athletics, a prestigious international event which is now officially known as the IAAF Continental Cup. The track and field competition pits continental athletics teams against each other, hence the new name. Morocco will host the 2014 edition in Marrakech, which will be the second African city to host this event after Johannesburg did so in 1998.
Though the future of Africa as the world host in sport looks good in terms of the events above, it is obviously not enough. More needs to be done, especially in attracting the world events that will not cost countries an arm and a leg. This brings to mind how the continent lost the prestige of being home to the world’s biggest motor rally. The Dakar rally just concluded another successful edition in South America, where Argentina and its neighbours were proud hosts.
Following the events on TV earlier this month brought a constant reminder that all this spectacle and attention should have been in Africa, where the Dakar rally truly belongs. Though the competition has moved across the Atlantic, it was a bit of consolation for me to see that that the trophy still bears the image of a Tuareg headgear.
The Dakar must return home, and finish in the Senegalese capital after which it is named. Its organizers took the race away after deadly insurgent activity in Mauritania and Mali made it unsafe for everybody involved. Africa must create viable conditions for Dakar and other international events to take place here without any hindrance and fear for safety. International events boost economies, from local level to the top. In the 1970s and 1980s many parts of west Africa received tourists who were lured by the beauty they saw on TV through the Dakar rally.
What could be wrong with tourism numbers being boosted by one event? Imagine if more of the same could happen to larger parts of the continent? Africa leaders are meeting at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa this week to discuss issues of political stability, safety and development. One big event during the AU jamboree in the Ethiopian capital would be the election of the new President for the organization.
Whoever wins, I have one request for them: Please investigate the factors that chased the Dakar rally away from Africa, and put plans in place to make sure the road is cleared for the speedy return of the most recognized motor rally in the world.
South Africa's Giniel de Villiers leaves dust in his wake as his Volkswagen Race Touareg 2 car leaves behind a desert settlement between Ouarzazate and Tan Tan in Morocco in 2007 Dakar Rally
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