Military expenditures - dollar figure: $2 billion (1995)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 2.8% (1995)

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: maritime boundary dispute with Venezuela in the Gulf of Venezuela; territorial dispute with Nicaragua over Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno Bank

Illicit drugs: illicit producer of coca, opium poppies, and cannabis; about 50,900 hectares of coca under cultivation in 1995; the world's largest processor of coca derivatives into cocaine; supplier of cocaine to the US and other international drug markets; active aerial eradication program seeks to virtually eliminate coca and opium crops ______________________________________________________________________

COMOROS

Introduction

Historical perspective: Comoros has had difficulty in achieving political stability, having endured 18 coups or attempted coups since receiving independence from France in 1975.

@Comoros:Geography

Location: Southern Africa, group of islands in the Mozambique Channel, about two-thirds of the way between northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique