Benin Military

Benin is a small West African nation located on the Gulf of Guinea. It is bordered by Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso and Niger to the north, and Togo to the west. The country covers an area of 112,622 square kilometers and has a population of approximately 11.5 million people. Benin is a democratic republic with an independent judiciary and legislative branch. Its military consists of the Benin Armed Forces (BAF), which includes ground forces, air wing, and naval forces. The BAF is responsible for defending Benin against external aggression and maintaining internal security. Additionally, it provides assistance to civil authorities in times of emergency or disasters. The BAF also participates in regional peacekeeping operations and contributes personnel to UN missions overseas. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for overseeing the BAF’s operations and ensuring that it meets its national defense objectives. See naturegnosis to learn more about the country of Benin.

Defense

The defense, which is based on selective military duty with an initial service of 18 months, comprises (2009) 4 750 men and is organized into 4 battalions, 2 patrol boats and a few small aircraft. Semi-military security forces amount to 2,500 men. The material is older and of Soviet origin.

Defense costs fell from 1.1% to 0.9% of GDP in 1985-2007. Benin participates in UN peacekeeping forces in Ivory Coast (UNOCI) and Congo (Kinshasa) (MONUC) as well as with observers in Liberia (UNMIL) and Sudan (UNMIS). To see related acronyms about this country, please check ABBREVIATIONFINDER where you can see that BEN stands for Benin.

Benin Army

Benin – Porto-Novo

Porto-Novo

Porto-Novo, capital of Benin; 263,600 residents (2014). Porto-Novo, which is located in the south-east corner of the country, has lately been increasingly in the shadow of Cotonou, which is the country’s economic center. The city’s business is dominated by fishing, shipping, crafts and the food industry. Porto-Novo has good communications with Cotonou and Lagos in Nigeria.

Porto-Novo was established as the center for slave trade with the Portuguese and came under the control of the Kingdom of Oyo in the early 18th century. It became the French protectorate in 1863 and in 1904 the capital of the Dahomey colony, which became an independent state in 1960 and renamed Benin in 1975.

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