Benin:
Military & Transnational Issues


Military branches	Benin Armed Forces: Ground Forces Command, Benin Navy, Benin People's Air Force (Force Aerienne Populaire de Benin, FAPB) (2007)
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 (2006)
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 age annually	males age 18-49: 76,661 females: 75,068 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	1.7% (2006)

Disputes - international	two villages remain in dispute along the border with Burkina Faso; Benin accused Burkina Faso of moving boundary pillars; much of Benin-Niger boundary, including tripoint with Nigeria, remains undemarcated; in 2005, Nigeria ceded thirteen villages to Benin, but border relations remain strained by rival gang clashes; Benin and Togo announced plans in 2006 to construct a joint hydroelectric dam on the Mona River at the southern end of the border
Refugees and internally displaced persons	refugees (country of origin): 26,632 (Togo) (2006)
Illicit drugs	transshipment point used by Nigerian traffickers for narcotics destined for Western Europe; vulnerable to money laundering due to poorly enforced financial regulations