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Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People The Revolutionary Armed Forces of the People ( pt, Forças Armadas Revolucionárias do Povo) or FARP were originally the armed wing of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde during the struggle against Portuguese rule in Gu ...
( pt, Forças Armadas Revolucionárias do Povo) or FARP are the national military of
Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...
. They consist of an Army, Navy, Air Force and paramilitary forces. The
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
estimated that there were around 4,000 personnel in the Armed Forces. The estimated military expenditure are $23.3 million, and military spending as a percentage of GDP as 1.7% The
World Fact Book ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...
reports that the military service age and obligation is 18–25 years of age for selective compulsory military service; 16 years of age or younger with parental consent, for voluntary service (2009).


Internal culture


2010 Guinea-Bissau military unrest

Major General
Batista Tagme Na Waie General Batista Tagme Na Waie, also transliterated as Batista Tagme Na Wai (1949 in Catió– March 1, 2009), was chief of staff of the army of Guinea-Bissau until his assassination in 2009. Military career A participant in the junta that ov ...
was chief of staff of the
Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...
armed forces until his assassination in 2009. Military unrest occurred in Guinea-Bissau on 1 April 2010. Prime Minister
Carlos Gomes Júnior Carlos Domingos Gomes Júnior (born December 19, 1949)
(in Portuguese).
is a Zamora Induta Zamora Induta (born 28 May 1966) is a Guinea-Bissauan lieutenant general. He was the Chief of Staff of the Military of Guinea-Bissau from October 27, 2009 to April 1, 2010. He was born in Bissau and after leaving school served in the Navy branch o ...
. Supporters of Gomes and his party, PAIGC, reacted to the move by demonstrating in the capital,
Bissau Bissau () is the capital, and largest city of Guinea-Bissau. Bissau had a population of 492,004. Bissau is located on the Geba River estuary, off the Atlantic Ocean, and is Guinea-Bissau's largest city, major port, and its administrative and ...
;
Antonio Indjai Antonio Indjai was Guinea-Bissau's army chief of staff from 2010 to 2014, and was one of the leaders in the military unrest of 1 April 2010. Indjai emerged from within the ruling junta during the destructive civil war which lasted from June 1998 ...
, the Deputy Chief of Staff, then warned that he would have Gomes killed if the protests continued.Assimo Balde
"Soldiers put Guinea-Bissau PM under house arrest"
Associated Press, 1 April 2010.
The EU ended its mission to reform the country's security forces, EU SSR Guinea-Bissau, on 4 August 2010, a risk that may further embolden powerful generals and drug traffickers in the army and elsewhere. The EU mission's spokesman in Guinea-Bissau said the EU had to suspend its programme when the mastermind of the mutiny, General
Antonio Indjai Antonio Indjai was Guinea-Bissau's army chief of staff from 2010 to 2014, and was one of the leaders in the military unrest of 1 April 2010. Indjai emerged from within the ruling junta during the destructive civil war which lasted from June 1998 ...
, became army chief of staff. "The EU mission thinks this is a breach in the constitutional order. We can't work with him".


International drug trade

The multitude of small offshore islands and a military able to sidestep government with impunity has made it a favourite trans-shipment point for drugs to Europe. Aircraft drop payloads on or near the islands, and speedboats pick up bales to go direct to Europe or onshore. UN chief
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Ministe ...
has called for sanctions against those involved in Guinea-Bissau's drugs trade. Air Force head Ibraima Papa Camara and former navy chief Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto have been named "drug kingpins".


Angolan assistance

Angola, at the presidency of the
Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries ( Portuguese: ''Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa''; abbreviated as the CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth (''Comunidade Lusófona''), is an international organization and pol ...
(CPLP) since 2010, has since 2011 participated in a military mission in Guinea-Bissau (MISSANG) to assist in the reform of defence and security. MISSANG had a strength of 249 Angolan men (both soldiers and police officers), following an agreement signed between the defence ministers of both countries, as a complement to a Governmental accord ratified by both parliaments. The Angolan assistance mission included a programme of technical and military cooperation focused on a reform of the Guinean armed forces and police, including the repair of barracks and police stations, organisation of administrative services and technical and military training locally and in Angolan institutions. The mission was halted by the Angolan Government, following a politico-military crisis that led to the ousting of the interim president of Guinea- Bissau, Raimundo Pereira, and the prime minister, Gomes Júnior. By 22 June 2012, the Angolan vessel ''Rio M'bridge'', carrying the mission's equipment, had arrived back in Luanda.


Army equipment


Air Force

After achieving independence from Portugal, the air force was formed by officers returning from training in
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...
and the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...
. The FAGB was re-equipped by the Soviet Union with a limited aid package in which its first combat aircraft were introduced.


Navy

In September 2010, Rear-Admiral Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto attempted a coup, but was arrested after failing to gain support. "Guinea-Bissau's navy chief, who was arrested last week and accused of trying to stage a coup, has escaped custody and fled to nearby Gambia, the armed forces said on Tuesday."http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk ..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/default.stm , retrieved on 12 August 2008, via afdevinfo, 16 September 2010


References

* The Two Faces of War * ''World Aircraft Information Files. Brightstar Publishing, London. File 338 Sheet 02 *


Further reading

*B Embaló, Civil–military relations and political order in Guinea-Bissau, The Journal of Modern African Studies, 2012 *Shaw, Mark, Drug trafficking in Guinea-Bissau, 1998-2014: the evolution of an elite protection network, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 53.3 (Sep 2015): 339–364.


External links

*http://africansecuritysector.blogspot.com/2010/09/guinee-bissau-restructuration-de-larmee.html, September 2010 *
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

Report of the Secretary-General on UNIOGBIS
S/2010/550, 25 October 2010.
UNIOGBIS The United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNIOGBIS) is a United Nations peacebuilding mission in Guinea-Bissau. It was established by Resolution 1876 of the United Nations Security Council in 2009 and succeeded the U ...
is the former
United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau The United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) was established by the United Nations Security Council in its Resolution 1233 in April 1999 to facilitate the general election and implementation of the Abuja Accord. Thi ...
(UNOGBIS) and is closely involved in reform of the armed forces. *http://www.slateafrique.com/85917/secrets-de-la-crise-bissau-guineenne {{DEFAULTSORT:Military Of Guinea-Bissau Government of Guinea-Bissau