I know this news will not be of interest to too many people...however there were a couple of us Canucks considering entering the Libya Desert Challenge. Looks like that is a non-starter now since Khadafi wasn't happy with our Prime Minister saying some not to complimentary things about him. Canadians will no longer be able to get a Libyan visa. How long that will be in effect...who knows? My guess is as long as both leaders are in power. With some talk/rumours of rallye routes including Libya...most significantly if the Dakar returns...maybe this has bigger ramifications. My understanding is that the few Americans who were getting into Libya were doing so by getting their visa's through Canada. Not sure if this effectively shuts Americans out of Libyan visas as well.
Bummer news for the teams. I doubt Dakar will segment Libya anytime soon again. They have been there, done that and Kaduffy is just too dynamic to deal with; along with the safety issues that have always concerned the ASO. Remember the year they airlifted all the teams around? I think that will still sting any thoughts of a Libyan segment for some time to come. Too bad, there were some nice segments there in the olden days. Maybe he will have a change of heart, but I would not be hopeful about that. He is pretty dogmatic and so is his tent.
It is a pity Libya is not utilized because of the political situation there. The pictures I've seen of the dunes and landscape there...simply breathtaking. It made Morocco look like a kid's sand box.
:huh Christ is that idiot Khadafi/Gaddafi not dead yet? I've been hearing of stories about him since I was riding my "big wheel" down the driveway. Fricking guy was born in 1942 and staged a coup a month before I was born, should only be a matter of time now...
Hey, I was born only one year after him and I expect at least another 20 years of riding. So take it easy on wishing us old farts passing on!
Lets try to keep this thread on-topic WRT how this will affect rallye participation. For those who want to discuss the personalities and other political aspects, I'd encourage a new thread down in CS&M. Thx.
There were some great runs through there until it ended. Very challenging sections. With any luck things will change. When you have oil and China is buying, you really don't need pesky tourists though. I wonder if the American visa's secured through the Canadian embassy had something to with this too? Of course, their rights to enter will be vanquished along with Canuckistan's. I consider this like screwing up the Olympics for political purposes. It just sucks.
This all came about after, I believe our Premier of Newfoundland made an public statement after learning that He was planning on setting up his tents somewhere near St Johns on his way home from a summit with g7 countrys (could be wrong about the summit agenda) in the states. He was going to voice his displeasure over libya's praise of the the only man who served time for the locherby(sp)bombings . Momar thought this was not kosher and decided to not stop on the rock and as it turns out make it very hard for those of us that were planning on the Tunisia rally ...Oh well I guess we have to do our part on the war against Terror .....................
Well...I wasn't going to make the 2010 LDC (actually now called the Libyan Rally)...was looking at 2011, but I have my doubts that all this visa stuff will be sorted out even by then. Even if it is...it seems a pretty volatile situation that could change again at the drop of a hat. I might change my focus (read "dreaming" ) to the Africa Race or Heroes Legend rallye now. As for US visa applications for Libya that were going through Canada...I don't know for sure if they are still being processed.
Dare to Dream ....Dare to Dream there may be two of us for tunsia ..if we get the Visa situation sorted out you should consider this !! perhaps we could piggy on our uk friends ?? Dont really know much about that sorta thing but will be looking into it
This is very disappointing news, as Bazzer450 has mentioned we have made tentative plans to Rally the Tunisia in 2010. I hope things will change for the better.
You may find the Rally Tunisia is just that, NPO has shortened the race and created a series called the desert trophy made up of the two races Maroc and Tunisia and a new race Egypt......the rally world really did not need another rally so lets hope the Egypt race is a joint effort with the Italians.The Tunisia race may just stay in Tunisia, which is great if you like rocks, more rocks and ohh yeah rocks!
Thanks Cummo, I emailed the NPO and got a reply yesterday. Looks like the Tunisian Rally will not be entering Libya. Looks as if the planning to go will continue,
I know if you are traveling on a USA Passport, you will not get into Libya. So I don't see how a visa issued in another country would help without also a Passport from that country, be it Canada or the UK.
