CELEBRATING THE SAHARA

An international festival of the Sahara will be held on December 25 in Douz (500 km south of Tunis) for four days of cultural, tourist and sports' demonstrations at the desert doors, according to the promoters' declaration made on Monday.

• The 41st edition of this yearly festival will lead to varied spectacles such as equestrian games, shoppings and dromedaries fights, sloughi (greyhound of the desert) hunts and reconstitution of the customs and nomadic life style.  
• Artisant's exhibitions are also foreseen as well as varieties of dates and medicinal plants of the desert and spectacles of music and songs of the Sahara.  
• The program also includes an international symposium on 'cultural tourism and the nature of the Sahara' and a contest of poetry on the theme of 'the dignity and self-counting'.  
• Some safaris are planned for the promotion of tourism of the Sahara. 
• Of the participants, notably of Europe (France - Italy) and of Africa (Algeria - Egypt - Libya) will be present in Douz for this appointment organized by the Tunisian ministries of Tourism and Culture.  
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• Ennahar/ AFP