gauge (2005)

Roadways:
total: 16,000 km
paved: 1,400 km
unpaved: 14,600 km (2005)

Waterways:
150 km (on River Niger along northern border) (2005)

Ports and terminals:
Cotonou

Military Benin

Military branches:
Army, Navy, Air Force

Military service age and obligation:
21 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; in
practice, volunteers may be taken at the age of 18; both sexes are
eligible for military service; conscript tour of duty - 18 months
(2004)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 21-49: 1,295,230
females age 21-49: 1,301,936 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 21-49: 749,774
females age 21-49: 751,329 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 76,661
females: 75,068 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$100.9 million (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.3% (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues Benin

Disputes - international:
Benin and Burkina Faso military clash in 2006 over sections of
riverine boundary involving disputed villages and squatters; much of
Benin-Niger boundary, including tripoint with Nigeria, remains
undemarcated; in 2005, Nigeria ceded thirteen villages to Benin as a
consequence of a 2004 joint task force to resolve maritime and land
boundary disputes, but clashes among rival gangs along the border
persist; a joint boundary commission continues to resurvey the
boundary with Togo to verify Benin's claim that Togo moved boundary
stones

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 26,632 (Togo) (2006)

Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for narcotics associated with Nigerian
trafficking organizations and most commonly destined for Western
Europe and the US; vulnerable to money laundering due to a poorly
regulated financial infrastructure

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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@Bermuda

Introduction Bermuda

Background:
Bermuda was first settled in 1609 by shipwrecked English colonists
headed for Virginia. Tourism to the island to escape North American
winters first developed in Victorian times. Tourism continues to be
important to the island's economy, although international business
has overtaken it in recent years. Bermuda has de