87,000 (2001)

Transportation Mauritius

Railways: 0 km (2002)

Highways: 1,786 km (including 36 km of expressways) unpaved: Waterways:
none

Ports and harbors: Port Louis

Merchant marine: total: 8 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 66,004
GRT/90,017 DWT ships by type: cargo 2, combination bulk 2, container 2,
refrigerated cargo 2 note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered
here as a flag of convenience:, Belgium 1, India 3, Norway 1, Switzerland
2 (2002 est.)

Airports: 5 (2001)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 2 over 3,047 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m:
1 (2001)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 under 914 m:
2 (2001)

Military Mauritius

Military branches: National Police Force (includes the paramilitary
Special Mobile Force or SMF and National Coast Guard)

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 340,050 (2002 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 171,239
(2002 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $9.1 million (FY01)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 0.2% (FY01)

Transnational Issues Mauritius

Disputes - international: Mauritius claims the Chagos Archipelago
(UK-administered British Indian Ocean Territory), and its former
inhabitants, who reside chiefly in Mauritius, but were granted
UK citizenship and the right to repatriation in 2001; claims
French-administered Tromelin Island

Illicit drugs: minor consumer and transshipment point for heroin from
South Asia; small amounts of cannabis produced and consumed locally

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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

Midway Islands

Introduction

Midway Islands

Background: The US took formal possession of the islands in 1867. The
laying of the trans-Pacific cable, which passed through the islands,
brought the first residents in 1903. Between 1935 and 1947, Midway was
used as a refueling stop for trans-Pacific flights. The US naval victory
over a Japanese fleet off Midway in 1942 was one of the turning points
of World War II. The islands continued to serve as a naval station until
closed in 1993. Today the islands are a national wildlife refuge. From
1996 to 2001 the refuge was open to the public. It is now temporarily
closed.

Geography Midway Islands

Location: Oceania, atoll in the North Pacific Ocean, about one-third
of the way from Honolulu to To