NewsTracker Answers for week of Aug. 07, 2017

Q: China formally opened its first overseas military base last week with a flag raising ceremony in the small nation Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. Where is the Horn of Africa?

Circle the area on this map


Q: Djibouti is smallest nation on the Horn of Africa. What is the largest?

A. Ethiopia

B. Kenya

C. Nigeria

D. Sudan


A. Djibouti is bordered by the other three nations of the Horn of Africa – Eritrea to the north, Somalia to the southeast and Ethiopia to the west and south. Many scientists believe that early humans migrated through the Horn of Africa into what is now Yemen in Asia and from there to the rest of the world.


Q: Djibouti is strategically located near some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, controlling access to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. China’s new base will be used to resupply its navy ships. What other nation has a military base in Djibouti?

A. Iran

B. Russia

C. United States

D. Yemen


C. Camp Lemonnier at the Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport is the only permanent U.S. military base in Africa. According to a former senior U.S. military commander, base run by the U.S. Navy is the centerpiece of a network of around six U.S. drone and surveillance bases stretching across the continent. Japan and France also have bases in Djibouti.


Q: Djibouti's position on the Indian Ocean has fueled worry in India that it would become another of China's "string of pearls" military alliances and assets ringing its rival. China and India are currently engaged in a tense stand-off in what geographic area separating them?

A. Bay of Biscay

B. Himalaya Mountains

C. Persian Gulf

D. Tasmania


B. China held live-fire drills last in Tibet week and warned India to remove troops from the region near its Himalayan ally Bhutan. Indian troops entered the area in June after Bhutan complained a Chinese military construction party was building a road inside Bhutan’s territory. China says the road is its Tibet region and the border dispute has nothing to do with India.


Q: What is the majority religion in Djibouti?

A. Buddhism

B. Christianity

C. Judaism

D. Muslim


B. About 94 percent of Djibouti’s people observe Islam. On the Horn of Africa, Somalia also is majority Muslim, Eritrea is about half Muslim and half Christian, and Ethiopia is mostly Christian. Most of Ethiopia’s ancient group of Jews immigrated to Israel in the last decades of the 20th century.