Game of risk.

Djibouti - the pene-exclave superpower paradise.

Anyone familiar with the board game 'Risk' will understand the importance of foothold. The quiet stability of Djibouti within the volatile Horn of Africa has made the country of just 875,000 people a hub for the world’s superpowers. Camp Lemmonier, America’s only permanent military base in Africa, hosts 4,500 troops and contractors who conduct missions against al-Qaeda in Yemen and al- Shabab in Somalia.

Djibouti also hosts France’s largest military presence abroad; Japan’s only foreign base anywhere; Spanish and German soldiers from the EU’s anti-piracy force; and China's first overseas base. The Saudis, Indians and Russian are queuing to be involved.

The tiny desert state wants to be more than a superpowers’ playground, though; it has ambitions to become a Dubai or Singapore at the gateway of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean - Djibouti has nothing, save for location.