deserted

Surrounding areas of Bissau were more deserted, and there were few people in reopened markets, AFP journalists said.

During a recent visit, a lot that had been cleared for a groundbreaking ceremony in May was deserted, with plantations around it.

The courtyard between apartment buildings was deserted, except for a single person sitting on one of the benches.

Commander Gorringe told me that some of the men he had hired in Egypt had already deserted.

Since then, Basra War Cemetery has become a deserted wasteland, used by the locals for football or to dispose of rubbish.