Armed Forces of Burkina Faso

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The armed forces of Burkina Faso ( French Forces armées nationales ) are divided into the army and air force as well as the national gendarmerie and police of Burkina Faso . There were also so-called people's militias .

history

The army of the then Upper Volta was founded in 1960, in 1961 the command was transferred from the French to the Upper Voltaic authorities. Sangoulé Lamizana , the commander in chief of the army, took power in the country in 1966. Subsequently, the military also took power several times through coups . In the 1980s there was a war with Mali over control of the Agacher Strip . Relations with the neighboring country of Ivory Coast were sometimes very tense , especially because of the civil war that had raged there in recent years .

Defense Minister Kouamé Lougé was dismissed in 2004 as a result of an attempted coup by the military . At the turn of the year 2006/2007 there were shootings in Ouagadougou between dissatisfied soldiers and police forces, which resulted in several deaths and injured civilians on both sides. The soldiers' displeasure was based, among other things, on the feeling of being at a disadvantage compared to the increasingly better equipped police due to poorer equipment and lower pay .

On October 30, 2014, the military once again disempowered the government and dissolved parliament.

On September 16, 2015, the last attempted coup by the presidential guard took place, but it was ended by the regular military.

Strength

The active level in peacetime is 11,200 soldiers without reserves. In 2012 the IISS estimated the army at 6,400 soldiers, the air force at 600 and the gendarmerie at 4,200 members. The military budget is 1.2% of the gross national product .

Soldiers from Burkina Faso during an exercise in Mali (2010)

equipment

The army ( l'Armée de Terre ) is divided into an armored unit with up to 24 EE-9 Cascavel , five infantry regiments , a paratrooper unit and an artillery unit and an engineer unit .

The Air Force ( Force Aérienne de Burkina Faso , FABF) operates three Embraer EMB 314 combat aircraft as well as helicopters and aircraft for transport purposes .

The National Gendarmerie is armed only with light weapons.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Military Balance 2012 . International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), 2012, ISSN  0459-7222 .
  2. ↑ Ministry of Defense of Burkina Faso ( Memento of the original from June 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.defense.gov.bf
  3. ^ Jean-Baptiste Marot: Jusqu'au ira la grogne? In: Jeune Afrique. No. 2401, January 2007.
  4. ↑ The military takes power in Burkina Faso , dw.de of October 30, 2014, accessed on October 30, 2014.
  5. ↑ globaldefence.net
  6. ↑ CIA World Factbook

Web links

Commons : Armed Forces of Burkina Faso  - Collection of images, videos and audio files