otilla on the
Danube), Joint Operations Command, Air and Air Defense Forces
Command (2008)

Military service age and obligation:

19-35 years of age for compulsory military service; under a state of
war or impending war, conscription can begin at age 16; conscription
is to be abolished in 2010; 9-month service obligation, with a
reserve obligation to age 60 for men and 50 for women (2007)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 66,263
female: 62,165 (2008 est.)

Transnational Issues
Serbia

Disputes - international:

Serbia with several other states protest the U.S. and other states'
recognition of Kosovo's declaring itself as a sovereign and
independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian municipalities
along Kosovo's northern border challenge final status of
Kosovo-Serbia boundary; several thousand NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers
under UNMIK authority continue to keep the peace within Kosovo
between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority in
Kosovo; Serbia delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and
Herzegovina, but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 71,111 (Croatia); 27,414 (Bosnia and
Herzegovina); 206,000 (Kosovo), note - mostly ethnic Serbs and Roma
who fled Kosovo in 1999 (2007)

Illicit drugs:

transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin moving to Western
Europe on the Balkan route; economy vulnerable to money laundering

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

======================================================================

@Seychelles

Introduction
Seychelles

Background:

A lengthy struggle between France and Great Britain for the islands
ended in 1814, when they were ceded to the latter. Independence came
in 1976. Socialist rule was brought to a close with a new
constitution and free elections in 1993. President France-Albert
RENE, who had served since 1977, was re-elected in 2001, but stepped
down in 2004. Vice President James MICHEL took over the presidency
and in July 2006 was elected to a new five-year term.

Geography
Seychelles

Location:

archipelago in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar

Geographic coordinates:

4 35 S, 55 40 E

Map references:

Africa

Area:

total: 455 sq km
land: 455 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:

2.5 times the size of W