Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.87% (FY00/01)
Transnational Issues Belize
Disputes - international:
Guatemala has claimed half of southern Belize; Guatemalan squatters
continue to settle along the border despite a 2000 agreement; OAS
brokered a Differendum in 2002 that created a small adjustment to
land boundary, a large Guatemalan maritime corridor in the
Caribbean, a joint ecological park for disputed Sapodilla Cays, and
a substantial US-UK financial package, but agreement was not brought
to a popular referendum
Illicit drugs:
major transshipment point for cocaine; small-scale illicit producer
of cannabis for the international drug trade; some money-laundering
activity related to offshore sector
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2003
======================================================================
@Benin
Introduction Benin
Background:
Present day Benin was the site of Dahomey, a prominent West African
kingdom that rose in the 15th century. The territory became a French
Colony in 1872 and achieved independence on 1 August 1960, as the
Republic of Benin. A succession of military governments ended in
1972 with the rise to power of Mathieu KEREKOU and the establishment
of a government based on Marxist-Leninist principles. A move to
representative government began in 1989. Two years later, free
elections ushered in former Prime Minister Nicephore SOGLO as
president, marking the first successful transfer of power in Africa
from a dictatorship to a democracy. KEREKOU was returned to power by
elections held in 1996 and 2001, though some irregularities were
alleged.
Geography Benin