)

Roadways:

total: 92,495 km
paved: 3,857 km
unpaved: 88,638 km (2004)

Military
Burkina Faso

Military branches:

Army, Air Force of Burkina Faso (Force Aerienne de Burkina Faso,
FABF), National Gendarmerie (2008)

Military service age and obligation:

18 years of age for compulsory military service; 20 years of age for
voluntary military service (2001)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 3,364,288 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 2,115,948 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 176,358
female: 173,856 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

1.2% of GDP (2006)

Transnational Issues
Burkina Faso

Disputes - international:

in September 2007, Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) intervened to attempt to resolve the dispute over two
villages along the Benin-Burkina Faso border that remain from 2005
ICJ decision; in recent years citizens and rogue security forces rob
and harass local populations on both sides of the poorly-defined
Burkina Faso-Niger border; despite the presence of over 9,000 UN
forces (UNOCI) in Cote d'Ivoire since 2004, ethnic conflict
continues to spread into neighboring states who can no longer send
their migrant workers to work in Ivorian cocoa plantations

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Burma

Introduction
Burma

Background:

Britain conquered Burma over a period of 62 years (1824-1886) and
incorporated it into its Indian Empire. Burma was administered as a
province of India until 1937 when it became a separate,
self-governing colony; independence from the Commonwealth was
attained in 1948. Gen. NE WIN dominated the government from 1962 to
1988, first as military ruler, then as self-appointed president, and
later as political kingpin. Despite multiparty legislative elections
in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party - the National
League for Democracy (NLD) - winning a landslide victory, the ruling
junta refused to hand over power. NLD leader and Nobel Peace Prize
recipient AUNG SAN SUU KYI, who was under house arrest from 1989 to
1995 and 2000 to 2002, was imprisoned in May 2003 and subsequently
transferred to house arrest. After Burma's ruling junta in August
2007 unexpectedly increased fuel prices, tens of thous