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The 17,000-man Ivorian Armed Forces (FANCI) include an army, navy, air force, and gendarmerie. The Joint Staff is assigned to the FANCI Headquarters in Abidjan. A two-star officer serves as the chief of staff and commander of the FANCI.
Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary Gendarmerie, Republican Guard (includes Presidential Guard), Sapeur-Pompier (Military Fire Group)
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Figures
Military manpower
- Military age: 18 years of age
- Availability: males age 15-49: 3,743,353 (2000 est.)
- Fit for military service: males age 15-49: 1,952,882 (2000 est.)
- Reaching military age annually: males: 182,936 (2000 est.)
Military expenditures
- Dollar figure: $94 million (fiscal year 1996)
- Percent of Gross Domestic Product: 1% (fiscal year 1996)
Military regions
Côte d'Ivoire is broken down into five military regions, each commanded by a colonel:
- The army has the majority of its forces in the First Military Region concentrated in and around Abidjan, its principal units there being a rapid intervention battalion (airborne), an infantry battalion, an armored battalion, and an air defense artillery battalion.
- The Second Military Region is located in Daloa and is assigned one infantry battalion.
- The Third Military Region is headquartered in Bouaké and is home to an artillery, an infantry, and an engineer battalion.
- The Fourth Military Region maintains only a Territorial Defense Company headquartered in Korhogo.
- The fifth region is the Western Operational Zone, a temporary command created to respond to the security threat caused by the civil war in neighboring Liberia.
Gendarmerie
The gendarmerie is roughly equivalent in size to the army. It is a national police force which is responsible for territorial security, especially in rural areas. In times of national crisis the gendarmerie could be used to reinforce the army. The gendarmerie is commanded by a colonel-major and is comprised of four Legions, each corresponding to one of the four numbered military regions, minus the temporary military operational zone on the western border.
Navy
Côte d'Ivoire has a brown-water navy whose mission is coastal surveillance and security for the nation's 340-mile coastline. It has two fast-attack craft, two patrol crafts, and one light transport ship. It also has numerous smaller vessels used primarily for traffic, immigration, and contraband control within the lagoon system.
Air Force
Recent reports suggest that the Ivory Coast no longer has any aircraft remaining in its Air Force. Until recent French attacks which appear to have destroyed all of its aircraft, it was believed to have in its inventory 5 Alpha Jets, 12 transport/utility aircraft, and 2 helicopters.
Two jets belonging to the Ivorian Air Force were recently destroyed by the French military in retaliation for an Ivorian military attack on a French military base on November 6, 2004. (CNN) (http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/11/06/ivorycoast.reut/index.html) (BBC) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3989127.stm)
French forces destroyed a number of aircraft, including three Mil Mi-24 helicopters and two Sukhoi Su-25 ground-attack aircraft.
International agreements
A mutual defense accord signed with France in 1961 provides for the stationing of French forces in Côte d'Ivoire. The 43rd Marine Infantry Battalion is based in Port Bouet adjacent to the Abidjan Airport and has more than 500 troops assigned.