Lost in the desert

The most puzzling aspect of the Ethiopian kidnap story is the rumour that whoever abducted these people in Afar destroyed their vehicles. Afar is a good deal more remote than Tigray which I visited a couple of years ago (left) and the one thing you're aware of when you're travelling through all this emptiness is that a car (or, more likely, an off road vehicle) is your only lifeline. If it broke down your only course of action would be to sit there and pray that eventually one of the aid agencies would happen to come by.