power - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 592,264 (2000 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $500 million (FY98)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 4% (FY98)

@Lebanon:Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: Israeli troops in southern Lebanon since
June 1982; Syrian troops in northern, central, and eastern Lebanon
since October 1976

Illicit drugs: inconsequential producer of hashish; some heroin
processing mostly in the Bekaa valley; a Lebanese/Syrian eradication
campaign started in the early 1990s has practically eliminated the
opium and cannabis crops

______________________________________________________________________

LESOTHO

@Lesotho:Introduction

Background: Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon
independence from the UK in 1966. Constitutional government was
restored in 1993 after 23 years of military rule.

@Lesotho:Geography

Location: Southern Africa, an enclave of South Africa

Geographic coordinates: 29 30 S, 28 30 E

Map references: Africa

Area:
total: 30,355 sq km
land: 30,355 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Maryland

Land boundaries:
total: 909 km
border countries: South Africa 909 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none (landlocked)

Climate: temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers

Terrain: mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: junction of the Orange and Makhaleng Rivers 1,400 m
highest point: Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m

Natural resources: water, agricultural and grazing land, some diamonds
and other minerals

Land use:
arable land: 11%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 66%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 23% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 30 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: periodic droughts

Environment - current issues: population pressure forcing settlement
in marginal areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, and
soil exhaustion; desertification; Highlands Water Project controls,
stores, and redirects water to South Africa

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Marine Life
Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping

Geography - note: landlocked; surrounded by South Africa

@Lesotho:People

Population: 2,143,141
note: estimates for this countr