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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Ivory Coast
Index
President Houphouët-Boigny inspecting the troops
Courtesy Embassy of Côte d'Ivoire, Washington
In 1987 the armed forces consisted of about 14,920
regular and
paramilitary personnel, organized into FANCI, the navy,
FACI, the
National Gendarmerie, the Presidential Guard and Militia,
and the
Military Fire Brigade. Although the National Gendarmerie
was an
integral part of the Ministry of Defense and Maritime
Affairs, its
mission related more to internal security than to external
defense
(see Internal Security
, this ch.).
The effective strength of the army was about 3,000
troops
during the early 1970s. It increased to 4,000 during the
mid-1970s,
and to more than 8,000 by the early 1980s, before
declining
steadily to about 5,500 by 1987. FANCI was equipped
lightly and
almost exclusively with French matériel, much of which was
delivered during 1980 and 1981, when the army experienced
its
greatest expansion (see
table 9, Appendix).
Headquarters elements included a general staff,
headquarters
and logistics companies, commissariat service, and
matériel
service. The main combat elements were the four infantry
battalions
of three companies each, stationed in the four military
regions.
The First Battalion at Port Bouët near Abidjan included
two
infantry companies, a paratroop company, and an air
defense unit.
An armored battalion with two squadrons also was stationed
in the
Abidjan region, along with the Military Preparatory
Technical
Academy (Ecole Militaire Preparatoire Technique--EMPT) at
Bingerville. The Second Battalion at Daloa consisted of
three
infantry companies. In the Third Military Region at Bouaké
was the
Third Battalion, consisting of three infantry companies, a
heavy
weapons/artillery battery, an antiaircraft artillery
battalion, an
engineering battalion with a combat engineer company, two
construction companies, and a training company. The Fourth
Military
Region at Korhogo was still being established, and in 1986
a new
command battalion and a dog-handling center were reported
to have
been formed.
Until December 1987, the Ivoirian Navy (Marine
Nationale) was
part of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, which was also
responsible for the merchant marine. In July 1974, Captain
Lamine
Fadika became the first Ivoirian minister of maritime
affairs,
replacing an expatriate. In December 1987, Fadika was
removed from
office, and the ministry was incorporated into the
Ministry of
Defense and Maritime Affairs under Banny.
The navy's mission was limited to coastal and river
patrols and
harbor defense, and its primary emphasis was on protecting
the
environment and fighting fires. The ministry planned to
restructure
the navy into two coastal patrol squadrons as additional
fast
attack craft were acquired. Naval headquarters were at the
main
naval base at Locodjoi, near Abidjan; smaller bases were
at
Sassandra, San-Pédro, and Tabou, all on the southwestern
coast. The
navy expanded from about 200 personnel in 1970, to 400 in
1980, to
about 700 in the late 1980s, maintaining a ratio of
officers to
enlisted men of 1 to 10. It had a small but versatile
force of
warships, auxiliaries, and service craft. Most of these
were French
craft, commissioned in the late 1970s (see
table 10,
Appendix). The
Navy was also reported to have a commando group and one
light
transport aircraft. The independent merchant marine fleet
consisted
of more than sixty vessels, including three tankers.
FACI was basically a military transportation and
liaison
service rather than a combat force. This mission was
reflected in
FACI's official name, Ivoirian Air Transport and Liaison
Group
(Groupement Aérien de Transport et de Liaison--GATL). Like
FANCI,
FACI was an independent service arm of the Ministry of
Defense and
Maritime Affairs. In 1988 Colonel Abdoulaye Coulibaly was
the FACI
commander, having assumed that post from a French officer
in 1974.
FACI had only about 200 personnel through the 1970s. It
then
entered a period of expansion, reaching an estimated
strength of
930 in the mid-1980s. Organizationally, FACI consisted of
a
headquarters staff with operational, technical, and
general
services sections and also various field activities and
air bases.
FACI's one small combat aircraft squadron consisted of
six
French Dassault-Breguet light attack/trainer Alpha Jets,
obtained
during 1980 and 1981. The squadron was stationed at the
Bouaké air
base, which opened in December 1980. Some of FACI's
original light
transport planes, including three Fokker F-27s and four
F-28s, were
transferred in 1979 to the national airline, Air Ivoire,
and
several old transports (three C-47s, five MH-1521
Broussard light
transports, and one Mystère 20), have been retired from
service. In
1987, in addition to the Alpha jets, FACI's aircraft
consisted of
twenty fixed-wing aircraft and eleven helicopters used for
training, light transport, ferrying of dignitaries, and
communications and utility missions. Pilots received
training on
French Aerospatiale Rallye 160 and Rallye 235 aircraft,
two Reims
Aviation/Cessna 150Hs, and six Beech F33C Bonanzas, (see
table 10,
Appendix).
FACI operated from a number of strategically situated
air
bases. Port Bouët near Abidjan was the main base for FACI,
along
with the First Military Region/FANCI Battalion, the
paratroop
company, and the air defense forces. Other major bases
were in the
southwest at Daloa (the headquarters of the Second
Military
Region/FANCI Battalion) and in the populous central
savanna at
Bouaké (site of the Third Military Region/FANCI
Battalion), which
included heavy weapons battery, antiaircraft artillery
battalion,
and the engineering battalion. Yamoussoukro, Sassandra,
San-Pédro,
Tabou, Man, Séguéla, Odienné, and Korhogo also had air
fields.
The remaining component of the armed forces having a
combat
mission was the GPM. President Houphouët-Boigny formed the
GPM to
serve as a paramilitary counterweight to FANCI after the
1963
military coup plot and to provide personal protection to
the
president. In 1986 the militia was estimated to have had
1,500
personnel; the Presidential Guard, 1,100. GPM members were
recruited largely from the National Gendarmerie and were
organized
into two units, one based in Abidjan and the other at
Yamoussoukro.
Data as of November 1988
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