NewsTracker Answers for week of Aug. 01, 2011

Q: Somalia's al-Shabab Islamists have banned Western aid agencies and say UN reports of famine are "sheer propaganda." Where is Somalia?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The UN says the worst drought in 60 years has caused famine in Somalia and its western neighbors . . .

A. South Africa and Zimbabwe

B. Ethiopia and Kenya

C. Ivory Coast and Gambia

D. Brazil and Argentina

B. Relief officials say 10.7 million people need food aid in the area. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said $300 million was needed in the next two months to provide an adequate response to the areas affected by famine.

Q: Al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaeda and controls much of Somalia, accused aid groups of being political. Somalia, which hasn't had a national government for 20 years, was once a colony of . . .

A. Britain

B. France

C. German

D. United States

A. Britain withdrew from British Somaliland in 1960 to allow its protectorate to join with Italian Somaliland and form the new nation of Somalia.

Q: Somalia occupies a geographical area called the . . .

A. Hudson Bay

B. Gulf of Guinea

C. Kalahari Desert

D. Horn of Africa

D. The Horn of Africa is a peninsula that juts hundreds of miles into the Arabian Sea lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent.

Q: The lack of a functioning government makes it extremely difficult to deliver aid. What else is blamed on the lack of government in Somalia?

A. Piracy

B. Refugees

C. Civil war

D. All of the above

D. Pirates have taken advantage of the anarchy to hijack ships for ransom in the busy shipping lanes off Somalia. It is estimated that 25 percent of 7.5 million Somalis are displaced. Rival warlords, clans and religious groups have been fighting since the fall of an authoritarian regime in 1991.