Gulf of Aden

China officially opened its first military base abroad today in Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa. The agency quoted Chinese state media as saying opening the base coincided with celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

The Chinese troops have reached their new military base in Djibouti, a mostly French- and Arabic-speaking country of dry shrublands, volcanic formations and Gulf of Aden beaches. The region is popularly known as the 'Horn of Africa'.

After being silent for the last couple of years, the Somali pirates have struck once again.

On April 1, they captured a dhow and its 11 Indian crew members off the coast of Somalia. It is the second such incident within two weeks in the area after a lull of nearly five years when piracy on the high seas was on the ebb.

Pirates have hijacked an oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew onboard, a Somali official said on March 14, the first time they have successfully taken a commercial ship since 2012.  

The Aris 13 sent a distress call on March 13, turned off its tracking system and altered course for the Somali port town of Alula, said John Steed of the aid group Oceans Beyond Piracy. 

BELGRADE - NATO has ended Operation Ocean Shield after a sharp drop-off in attacks by Somali pirates. The Royal Danish Air Force carried out the last Indian Ocean surveillance missions for NATO.

The Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry and other authorities were investigating on Wednesday the alleged kidnapping of a Greek national in Yemen.

Four Yemeni soldiers were killed in an April 17 suicide attack on a checkpoint near the international airport in the country's second city of Aden, home to a growing jihadist presence, a security official said, a day before peace talks to end a year of war were due to start.

Turkey's parliament has extended the deployment of the Turkish Naval Force in the Gulf of Aden, Somalian territorial waters and the Arabian Sea to halt piracy for another year.

Chinese naval forces involved in anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden have held their first joint drill with NATO ships carrying out the same mission, China's Defense Ministry said on Nov. 27, as China seeks a greater global security role. 

Six tons of Turkey-donated medical equipment and supplies, along with six fully-equipped ambulances, have arrived in Djibouti, the Turkish ambassador to the country said on July 5.