for military service:
males age 18-49: 13,465 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 10,792 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 726 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
NA

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
NA

Military - note:
defense is the responsibility of the US

Transnational Issues Marshall Islands

Disputes - international:
claims US territory of Wake Island

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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@Mauritania

Introduction Mauritania

Background:
Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern
third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976, but
relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario
guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Maaouya Ould
Sid Ahmed TAYA seized power in a coup in 1984. Opposition parties
were legalized and a new constitution approved in 1991. Two
multiparty presidential elections since then were widely seen as
flawed, but October 2001 legislative and municipal elections were
generally free and open. A bloodless coup in August 2005 deposed
President TAYA and ushered in a military council headed by Col. Ely
Ould Mohamed VALL, which declared it would remain in power for up to
two years while it created conditions for genuine democratic
institutions and organized elections. Accordingly, parliamentary
elections were held in December of 2006 and senatorial and
presidential elections will follow (January and March 2007
respectively). The newly-elected legislature is expected to assume
power following the inauguration of the new president. For now,
however, Mauritania remains an autocratic state, and the country
continues to experience ethnic tensions among its black population
and different Moor (Arab-Berber) communities.

Geography Mauritania

Location:
Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between
Senegal and Western Sahara

Geographic coordinates:
20 00 N, 12 00 W

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 1,030,700 sq km
land: 1,030,400 sq km
water: 300 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly larger than three times the size of New Mexico

Land boundaries:
total: 5,074 km
border countries: Algeria 463 km, Mali 2,237 km, Senegal