Sand, salt, and six countries with their own bases

Hmmm. From The Coming Wars by Bruno Maçães.

As a kid I was fascinated by Djibouti, then the French colony of Afars & Issas Territory and which only became independent in 1977. It is an oddity. A million person population, two tribes, sun-seared plains, main export - salt, and tiny (9,000 square miles, most of it uninhabitable). It was one of the more improbable colonies (French), its sole value being as the rail terminus into the otherwise landlocked Abyssinia/Ethiopia and its strategic position at the head of the Red Sea and Horn of Africa.

A mouse on the global stage, but a mouse with an extremely valuable mouse hole as this article points out.

We had been driving around the streets of this African city for more than an hour, and my companion — an agent from the national intelligence service whom I will call Mohammed — was excited by the implications of what he had been showing me.

Strategically placed at the entrance to the Red Sea, commanding a large percentage of the trade and energy flows between Europe and Asia, Djibouti is home to more foreign bases than any other country. We drove by one of the four surviving French bases. The perimeter was wide, but the building immediately reminded you of an old Foreign Legion fort, with its run-down walls and picturesque watch towers.

What a contrast to the dark and menacing Chinese naval base I had visited the day before or the autonomous city in the desert that is Camp Lemonnier, the American base.

[snip]

As France — the first to maintain a military presence in the country — slowly abandons its bases due to budgetary constraints, others have been moving in. The United States recently opened a second base on Chabelley Airfield — unmentioned in its public list of overseas bases — after its drones interfered with air traffic at Camp Lemonnier.

The country hosts China and Japan’s only foreign military bases. There’s an Italian base too and Saudi Arabia is building one as well. Djibouti has made overtures to Turkey. And, according to Mohammed, (and later an second independent source) Russia has made inquiries.

Already existing military bases: France, USA, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Italy. The oddity of Djibouti continues to burn bright.