Military of Guinea-Bissau

Armed Forces of Guinea-Bissau
Emblem of Guinea-Bissau
Founded	1973
Service branches	Bissau-Guinean Army Bissau-Guinean Navy Bissau-Guinean Air Force
Headquarters	Bissau
Leadership
President	José Mário Vaz
Defense Minister	Adiato Djaló Nandigna
Chief of General Staff	General Biague Na Ntan
Manpower
Conscription	Selective compulsory military service
Active personnel	4,000
Expenditures
Budget	$9.46 million
Percent of GDP	3.1%
Industry
Foreign suppliers	China  Russia
Related articles
History	Guinea-Bissau War of Independence Guinea-Bissau Civil War 2010 Guinea-Bissau military unrest 2012 Guinea Bissau coup d'état

The Armed Forces of Guinea-Bissau consist of an Army, Navy, Air Force and paramilitary forces. A 2008 United Nations Development Programme census estimated that there were around 4,000 personnel in the Armed Forces. An earlier CIA World Fact Book figure was 9,250. The World Fact Book also estimated military expenditure as $9.46 million, and military spending as a percentage of GDP as 3.1%.

The World Fact Book also reports that the military service age and obligation is 18–25 years of age for selective compulsory military service; 16 years of age or younger with parental consent, for voluntary service (2009).

Major General Batista Tagme Na Waie was chief of staff of the Guinea-Bissau armed forces until his assassination in 2009.

Military unrest occurred in Guinea-Bissau on 1 April 2010. Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior was placed under house arrest by soldiers, who also detained Army Chief of Staff Zamora Induta. Supporters of Gomes and his party, PAIGC, reacted to the move by demonstrating in the capital, Bissau; Antonio Indjai, the Deputy Chief of Staff, then warned that he would have Gomes killed if the protests continued.

The EU ended its mission to reform the country's security forces, EU SSR Guinea-Bissau, on 4 August 2010, a risk that may further embolden powerful generals and drug traffickers in the army and elsewhere. The EU mission's spokesman in Guinea-Bissau said the EU had to suspend its programme when the mastermind of the mutiny, General Antonio Indjai, became army chief of staff. "The EU mission thinks this is a breach in the constitutional order. We can't work with him".

The multitude of small offshore islands and a military able to sidestep government with impunity has made it a favourite trans-shipment point for drugs to Europe. Aircraft drop payloads on or near the islands, and speedboats pick up bales to go direct to Europe or onshore. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called for sanctions against those involved in Guinea-Bissau's drugs trade.

Air Force head Ibraima Papa Camara and former navy chief Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto have been named "drug kingpins".