Guinea Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

National Armed Forces: Army, Guinean Navy (Armee de Mer or Marine Guineenne), Guinean Air Force (Force Aerienne de Guinee), Presidential Security Battalion (Battailon Autonome de la Sécurité Presidentielle, BASP), Gendarmerie (2022)

note: the National Gendarmerie is overseen by the Ministry of Defense, while the National Police is under the Ministry of Security; the Gendarmerie and National Police share responsibility for internal security, but only the Gendarmerie can arrest police or military officials

Military expenditures

1.5% of GDP (2021 est.)

1.4% of GDP (2020 est.)

1.6% of GDP (2019 est.) (approximately $270 million)

1.8% of GDP (2018 est.) (approximately $280 million)

1.8% of GDP (2017 est.) (approximately $260 million)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 12,000 active personnel (9,000 Army; 400 Navy; 800 Air Force; 300 BASP; 1,500 Gendarmerie) (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the inventory of the Guinean military consists largely of aging and outdated (mostly Soviet-era) equipment; since 2010, it has received small amounts of equipment from China, France, Russia, and South Africa (2022)

Military service age and obligation

Voluntary and selective conscripted service, 9-24 mos (2022)

Military deployments

670 Mali (MINUSMA) (May 2022)

Military - note

the Army is responsible for external defense, but also has some domestic security responsibilities; piracy and natural resource protection in the Gulf of Guinea are key areas of concern for the small Navy, which possesses only a few patrol boats (2022)

Maritime threats

the International Maritime Bureau reports the territorial and offshore waters in the Niger Delta and Gulf of Guinea remain a very high risk for piracy and armed robbery of ships; in 2021, there were 34 reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery at sea in the Gulf of Guinea region; although a significant decrease from the total number of 81 incidents in 2020, it included the one hijacking and three of five ships fired upon worldwide; while boarding and attempted boarding to steal valuables from ships and crews are the most common types of incidents, almost a third of all incidents involve a hijacking and/or kidnapping; in 2021, 57 crew members were kidnapped in seven separate incidents in the Gulf of Guinea, representing 100% of kidnappings worldwide; Nigerian pirates in particular are well armed and very aggressive, operating as far as 200 nm offshore; the Maritime Administration of the US Department of Transportation has issued a Maritime Advisory (2022-001 - Gulf of Guinea-Piracy/Armed Robbery/Kidnapping for Ransom) effective 4 January 2022, which states in part, "Piracy, armed robbery, and kidnapping for ransom continue to serve as significant threats to US-flagged vessels transiting or operating in the Gulf of Guinea"

NOTE: The information regarding Guinea on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Guinea 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.