/ 2 February 2000

EGYPT WANTS DAKAR DAMAGE PAYBACK

EGYPT is demanding $1.4-million from the organisers of the Paris-Dakar motor rally to make good the damage it inflicted on a nature reserve, the government daily Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday. It said the Egyptian Environment Affairs Agency, part of the environment ministry, has lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office against the organiser of the Egyptian leg of the rally, Rami Siag. The agency drew up a list of complaints outlining the damage the drivers caused in the Wadi el-Rayyan reserve, in the Fayum region, 100km south of Cairo. It is claiming $1.35-million for the harm inflicted on the site and its animals, plus $72000 in entry fees.