NewsTracker Answers for week of Dec. 02, 2013

Q: Escalating violence between Christians and Muslims has brought the Central African Republic to the “verge of genocide,” with children being murdered or conscripted and turned into murderers by the warring militias. Where is the Central African Republic on this map?

Circle the area on this map

Q: For most of its half-century history, the Central African Republic has been ruled by leaders who seized power by force. The nation descended into anarchy and sectarian fighting after rebels took power last spring. The Central African Republic is . . .

A. Mostly Muslim

B. Mostly Christian

C. About evenly split

B. About 50 percent of the Central African Republic's people are Christian, 15 percent are Muslim and 35 percent follow indigenous beliefs. A leader of the rebels, Michel Djotodia, declared himself president last spring and became the first Muslim to rule the nation of 4.6 million people.

Q: The Central African Republic is one of the world's poorest countries with an annual per capita income of $800. The world's poorest nation, with a per capita income of $400 a year, is the Central African Republic's southern neighbor . . .

A. South Sudan

B. Cameroon

C. Chad

D. Democratic Republic of Congo

D. Like the conflict in the Central African Republic, civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo pulled in fighters from surrounding countries leaving millions dead from fighting, disease and malnutrition.

Q: In 1960, the so-called “Year of Africa”, 17 nations declared independence from their colonial rulers. From which nation did the Central African Republic gain its independence?

A. Belgium

B. Britain

C. France

D. Germany

C. In the “Scramble for Africa”  between 1881 and 1914, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Italy invaded, occupied, colonized and annexed most of the continent including the area of the Central African Republic. It was the French foreign minister who warned that the Central African Republic was “on the verge of genocide.” 

Q: The French foreign minister called for troops from African nations and France to intervene in the Central African Republic. French troops intervened in which of its former African territories early this year?

A. Mali

B. Mauritania

C. Morocco

D. Madagascar

A. France sent troops into Mali in January to battle Islamist rebels who had seized the northern part of the country.