2000 Dakar Rally also known as the 2000 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 22nd running of the Dakar Rally

Dakar Rally

The Dakar Rally is an annual rally raid type of off-road automobile race, organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation...

 event. The event began in January 2000 in Senegal

Senegal

Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

 and ended in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

. It had been re-routed to avoid Mauritania

Mauritania

Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...

 following an armed robbery of competitors in the 1999 rally. A stage of the rally between Niger

Niger

Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...

 and Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

 was cancelled following a reported terrorist threat. Competitors were airlifted from Niamey

Niamey

-Population:While Niamey's population has grown steadily since independence, the droughts of the early 1970s and 1980s, along with the economic crisis of the early 1980s, have propelled an exodus of rural inhabitants to Niger's largest city...

 airport to Libya where the rally was restarted at Sabha. The rally was won by French drivers, Jean-Louis Schlesser

Jean-Louis Schlesser

Jean-Louis Schlesser is a French racing driver with experience in circuit racing and cross-country rallying. He is known for his successful wins of many different competitions...

 and Henri Magne. The motorcycle title was won by Richard Sainct

Richard Sainct

Richard Sainct was a French Rally Raid Motorcycle Rider, best known for his three victories on the Paris-Dakar rally in 1999, 2000 and 2003....

.