Organizers of the Dakar Rally say the grueling race will take place again in Argentina and Chile for the third straight year in 2011.

Organizers said yesterday the exact route for the 1-16 January race will be unveiled in April. The race was moved to South America in 2009 because of terrorism fears about its traditional path through the Sahara Desert.

Organizers said in a statement that rally leaders were working on "the possibility of a return to the African continent" in the future.

The 2008 rally was cancelled for the first time in its 30-year history because of a threat of a terrorist attack. Eight of the 15 stages were to have been in Mauritania, where al-Qaida-linked militants had recently killed a family of French tourists.