Military expenditures - dollar figure: $6 million (FY01)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 3% (FY01)
Transnational Issues Comoros
Disputes - international: claims French-administered Mayotte; the island of Anjouan (Nzwani) has moved to secede from Comoros again after recent military coup
This page was last updated on 1 January 2002
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Colombia
Introduction
Colombia
Background: Colombia was one of the three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others being Ecuador and Venezuela). A 40-year insurgent campaign to overthrow the Colombian Government escalated during the 1990s, undergirded in part by funds from the drug trade. Although the violence is deadly and large swaths of the countryside are under guerrilla influence, the movement lacks the military strength or popular support necessary to overthrow the government. An anti-insurgent army of paramilitaries has grown to be several thousand strong in recent years, challenging the insurgents for control of territory and illicit industries such as the drug trade and the government's ability to exert its dominion over rural areas. While Bogota continues to try to negotiate a settlement, neighboring countries worry about the violence spilling over their borders.