_*Defense Forces #_Branches: Central African Armed Forces, Air Force, National Gendarmerie, Police Force

_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 659,802; 345,049 fit for military service

_#Defense expenditures: $23 million, 1.8% of GDP (1989 est.) % @Chad *Geography #_Total area: 1,284,000 km2; land area: 1,259,200 km2

_#_Comparative area: slightly more than three times the size of California

_#_Land boundaries: 5,968 km total; Cameroon 1,094 km, Central African Republic 1,197 km, Libya 1,055 km, Niger 1,175 km, Nigeria 87 km, Sudan 1,360 km

_#_Coastline: none—landlocked

_#_Maritime claims: none—landlocked

_#_Disputes: Libya claims and occupies the 100,000 km2 Aozou Strip in the far north; demarcation of international boundaries in Lake Chad, the lack of which has led to border incidents in the past, is completed and awaiting ratification by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria

_#_Climate: tropical in south, desert in north

_#_Terrain: broad, arid plains in center, desert in north, mountains in northwest, lowlands in south