Burundi Military - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

National Defense Forces (Forces de Defense Nationale, FDN): Army (includes maritime wing, air wing), National Police (Police Nationale du Burundi) (2020)

Military expenditures

1.8% of GDP (2019)

1.9% of GDP (2018)

1.8% of GDP (2017)

2.2% of GDP (2016)

2.1% of GDP (2015)

Military and security service personnel strengths

the National Defense Forces (FDN) have approximately 25,000 active duty troops, the majority of which are ground forces (2020)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the FDN is armed mostly with weapons from Russia and the former Soviet Union, with some Western equipment, largely from France; since 2010, the FDN has received small amounts of mostly second-hand equipment from China, South Africa, and the US (2020)

Military deployments

750 Central African Republic (MINUSCA); 5,400 Somalia (AMISOM) (Feb 2021)

Military service age and obligation

18 years of age for voluntary military service; the armed forces law of 31 December 2004 did not specify a minimum age for enlistment, but the government claimed that no one younger than 18 was being recruited (2019)

Military - note

in addition to its foreign deployments, the FDN is focused on internal security missions, particularly against rebel groups opposed to the regime such as National Forces of Liberation (FNL), the Resistance for the Rule of Law-Tabara (aka RED Tabara), and Popular Forces of Burundi (FPB or FOREBU); the groups are based in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo and have carried out sporadic attacks in Burundi (2020)

NOTE: The information regarding Burundi on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Burundi 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Burundi 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.