Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$2,196.6 million (2003)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.5% (2003)
Transnational Issues Algeria
Disputes - international:
Algeria supports the exiled Sahrawi Polisario Front and rejects
Moroccan administration of Western Sahara; Algeria's border with
Morocco remains an irritant to bilateral relations; each nation has
accused the other of harboring militants and arms smuggling; in an
attempt to improve relations afer unilaterally imposing a visa
requirement on Algerians in the early 1990s, Morocco lifted the
requirement in mid-2004 - a gesture not reciprocated by Algeria;
Algeria remains concerned about armed bandits operating throughout
the Sahel who sometimes destabilize southern Algerian towns; dormant
disputes include Libyan claims of about 32,000 sq km still reflected
on its maps of southeastern Algeria and the FLN's assertions of a
claim to Chirac Pastures in southeastern Morocco
Refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 165,000 (Western Saharan Sahrawi, mostly living in Algerian-sponsored camps in the southeastern Algerian town of Tindouf) IDPs: 100,000 - 200,000 (conflict between government forces, Islamic insurgents) (2004)
This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005
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@American Samoa
Introduction American Samoa
Background:
Settled as early as 1000 B.C., Samoa was "discovered" by European
explorers in the 18th century. International rivalries in the latter
half of the 19th century were settled by an 1899 treaty in which
Germany and the US divided the Samoan archipelago. The US formally
occupied its portion - a smaller group of eastern islands with the
excellent harbor of Pago Pago - the following year.