Word: desertion
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...course, kidnapping foreigners has long been a staple of militant activities in war zones like Iraq or Afghanistan and, at times, even in supposedly more secure settings like Pakistan and Yemen. But apart from a one-off abduction of 32 Europeans trekking in the Algerian desert in 2003, North African militants never showed much of an interest in kidnapping until they linked up with al-Qaeda in 2007. Since then, it's become a veritable habit. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East...
...While the group has unleashed many of its most violent terrorist acts (bombings and shootings) in cities like Algiers, its kidnappings have all taken place in the vast Sahel region stretching across Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Mali, Niger, Libya and Tunisia. According to experts, the number of insurgents roaming the desert area in four-wheel vehicles has increased from a few score to perhaps 200 in the past two years, including both hard-core members and supporters who periodically participate in missions...
...trees. New York culinary bad boy David Chang said as much recently when calling out his West Coast rivals for "just serving figs on a plate." Chefs need to do something. A love of nature is great, but it doesn't get you seawater when you're in the desert. (See the top 10 food trends...
...Some smugglers who have amassed wealth have become self-styled Robin Hoods of the desert, delivering food and blankets to the forgotten poor - many of whom still live without water or electricity in huts built of twigs among the dunes. "I'll bring a doctor tomorrow," promises Mohamed, one of Sinai's most powerful arms smugglers, after hearing the plea of a woman and her sick father living in a fly-infested dwelling of trash and debris, miles from any village...
...their life outside the law constantly threatens to erupt in violent conflagrations. The smugglers who run the show are gun-toting, trigger-happy cowboys of the desert, subverting police checkpoints through roadless sand dunes and hills in an army of Land Cruisers with no license plates and tinted windows. They carry Glock pistols, AK-47s and even a few M-16s. "I'm a wanted man. We're all wanted men, and we're all armed," says Abdullah, a tunnel owner who sleeps in a different place every night and says he would rather die than be captured...