The only thing going through Len Milich's mind during his three days of captivity last summer was that he wanted "to get the hell out of Africa."

After his release, Milich, an arid lands doctoral student, decided to stay and try to resurrect his research project.

"It struck me that, having lost everything, the last thing I wanted to lose was two and a half years of preparatory research to get there," Milich said in an interview last week. "That would be a major setback."

Milich returned to the United States in late September and is in the process of writing his dissertation based on his research.

Shortly after arriving in Africa last April, Milich was abducted in Mauritania by Tuareg rebels and held for three days. He lost nearly all of his equipment, all of his own money and his vehicle. About the only thing the rebels left for him was vital computer equipment he needed for his research, which consisted of accumulating data from the ground in potential famine areas. His main area of operation concerned the Sahel, Arabic for "shoreline," of the Sahara.

Milich said he sought assistance from government contacts and from World Vision, a missionary organization that assists refugees and villagers in drought-stricken areas. He obtained the needed funds, equipment and transportation to continue his mission.

"It became somewhat simple at that point," Milich said, "because I had completed my work in the western part of my original area in Mauritania and Mali."

That left specific sites in the countries of Niger and Chad, he said. It became simple because, after being kidnapped once, Milich immediately ruled out Chad, a country experiencing civil insurrection. Prior to leaving Tucson he said he had seen a news report about a United Nations worker being kidnapped in that area.

"I didn't feel like doing the kidnappee thing a second time and I had good reason to fear that after hearing about this American being held there," he said.

Of 10 sites he needed to visit, seven in Chad were eliminated. That left three in Niger, two of which were in Tuareg areas, so they went out as well. The one site he had left to visit was on the Niger-Nigerian border, and Milich had to hike in.

Part of the work he needed to conduct would take Milich into Nigeria. He presented his visa to the immigration office in Sabonbirni in northern Nigeria, observed all of the formalities, and they suggested he check in with the state security office.

Nigeria made headlines in 1993 after a military coup ousted democratically elected president Muhammed Abiola. Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed in November for speaking against the military-run government.

The next morning, Milich was continuing his work when a man on a motorcycle rode up and asked Milich to accompany him back to the state security office.

He was dumped into a room around 11 a.m. and eventually taken out for interrogation around 5 p.m. But he was not tortured.

"They weren't putting splinters under my fingernails," he said. "They were quite polite about it."

Several state security officers rummaged through his personal items and asked him why he was there and what he was doing - the usual procedures. They had him write a statement, sign it and told Milich he was not permitted to continue his research in Nigeria.

He convinced them to let him conduct one more interview, before deporting him to Niger.

That was only his first encounter with state security.

Three weeks later, Milich visited with the Kofyar people in the plateau region of Nigeria. He met two high court judges, mutual friends of Bob Netting. Netting was a University of Arizona regents professor in anthropology, who died in February 1995.

Milich had taken several classes on the Kofyar people from Netting and wanted to visit them while he was in the area.

After a tour of the region, Milich headed for the country of Benin, but stopped in a town in the state of Niger, Nigeria. He was walking through the market drinking curdled milk when a well-dressed man beckoned him over and insisted that Milich accompany him.

"I had the feeling I had run afoul of state security again," Milich said.

After a short period of questioning, the man hinted at a bribe, but Milich refused it. He had never given a bribe in his life and he was not going to start then.

After the security man talked with the town's police commissioner, Milich was told he would have to spend the night in the police station.

Milich became irate, left the security man's office, went into the station and into the office of the police commissioner. He said he pulled the business cards of the two high court judges and laid the cards on the desk.

"I said, 'Listen, these are friends of mine, and I'm sure they know people in Niger state and you can bet if I have to spend the night here I'm going to make this into a political incident.'"

He was freed 10 minutes later.

Milich warns that any student travelling overseas takes certain risks.

"It's becoming more and more common for overseas workers to run into these problems," said Milich who hopes to work in natural resources management and environmental policy at the international level.

"You have to keep your sense of humor about this," he said. "If you're working in Africa and you don't have a sense of humor and a light touch you are going to find it difficult, if not impossible. People will not like you and they will not like to deal with you."