Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.7% (2003)
Military - note:
with the end of apartheid and the establishment of majority rule,
former military, black homelands forces, and ex-opposition forces
were integrated into the South African National Defense Force
(SANDF); as of 2003 the integration process was considered complete
Transnational Issues South Africa
Disputes - international: managed dispute with Namibia over the location of the boundary in the Orange River
Illicit drugs:
transshipment center for heroin, hashish, marijuana, and cocaine;
cocaine consumption on the rise; world's largest market for illicit
methaqualone, usually imported illegally from India through various
east African countries; illicit cultivation of marijuana; attractive
venue for money launderers given the increasing level of organized
criminal and narcotics activity in the region
This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005
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@Southern Ocean
Introduction Southern Ocean
Background:
A decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the
spring of 2000 delimited a fifth world ocean - the Southern Ocean -
from the southern portions of the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and
Pacific Ocean. The Southern Ocean extends from the coast of
Antarctica north to 60 degrees south latitude, which coincides with
the Antarctic Treaty Limit. The Southern Ocean is now the fourth
largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean,
Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, but larger than the Arctic Ocean).