ions of boundary with Uruguay
are in dispute - Arroio Invernada (Arroyo de la Invernada) area of the
Rio Quarai (Rio Cuareim) and the islands at the confluence of the Rio
Quarai and the Uruguay River

Illicit drugs: limited illicit producer of cannabis, minor coca
cultivation in the Amazon region, mostly used for domestic
consumption; government has a large-scale eradication program to
control cannabis; important transshipment country for Bolivian,
Colombian, and Peruvian cocaine headed for the US and Europe;
increasingly used by traffickers as a way station for narcotics air
transshipments between Peru and Colombia; upsurge in drug-related
violence and weapons smuggling

______________________________________________________________________

BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY

@British Indian Ocean Territory:Geography

Location: Southern Asia, archipelago in the Indian Ocean, about
one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia

Geographic coordinates: 6 00 S, 71 30 E

Map references: World

Area:
total: 60 sq km
land: 60 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago

Area - comparative: about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 698 km

Maritime claims:
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 3 nm

Climate: tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds

Terrain: flat and low (most areas do not exceed four meters in
elevation)

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m

Natural resources: coconuts, fish

Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: NA%
other: NA%

Irrigated land: 0 sq km (1993)

Natural hazards: NA

Environment - current issues: NA

Geography - note: archipelago of 2,300 islands; Diego Garcia, largest
and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian
Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility

@British Indian Ocean Territory:People

Population: no indigenous inhabitants
note: approximately 3,000 native inhabitants, known as the Chagosians
or Ilois, were evacuated to Mauritius before construction of UK-US
military facilities; in 1995, there were approximately 1,700 UK and US
military personnel and 1,500 civilian contractors living on the island
(July 2000 est.)

@British Indian Ocean Territory:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: British Indi