Military Suriname
Military branches:
National Army, Naval Element, Air Wing (2006)
Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age (est.); no conscription
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 111,582
females age 18-49: 103,769 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 77,793
females age 18-49: 72,943 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$7.5 million (2003 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
0.7% (2003 est.)
Transnational Issues Suriname
Disputes - international:
area claimed by French Guiana between Riviere Litani and Riviere
Marouini (both headwaters of the Lawa); Suriname claims a triangle
of land between the New and Kutari/Koetari rivers in a historic
dispute over the headwaters of the Courantyne; Guyana seeks United
Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) arbitration to
resolve the long-standing dispute with Suriname over the axis of the
territorial sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters
Illicit drugs:
growing transshipment point for South American drugs destined for
Europe via the Netherlands and Brazil; transshipment point for
arms-for-drugs dealing