|
|
|
|
Forces Armées Populaires in Madagascar
Full index of Country Studies-Madagascar MadagascarForces Armées PopulairesIn 1993 the FAP numbered about 21,000. Madagascar's president is commander in chief of the FAP. There is no reserve force. Males aged eighteen to fifty are subject to conscription for eighteen months of military or civil service. The majority of conscripts belonged to the relatively poor côtiers because exceptions to the conscription law allow influential or prosperous persons to avoid military service. The officer corps remains a promising career for most Malagasy. The FAP is divided into two operational services, the army and the aeronaval forces. The former is responsible for land operations and ground-based air defense; however, its primary role has been to defend state institutions and the president from armed opposition. The latter conducts air, naval, and amphibious operations. The 20,000-member army, which is deployed as a coastal and internal security force, consists of two battalion groups, one engineer regiment, one signals regiment, one service regiment, and seven construction regiments. There is no reserve force. Because Madagascar lacks an indigenous arms production industry, the army imports all its equipment. The army weapons system includes twelve PT-76 light tanks; eight M-8, twenty M-3A1, ten FV-701 Ferret, and 35 BRDM-2 reconnaissance vehicles; and thirty M-3A1 half-track armored personnel carriers. Additionally, the army possesses fifty 14.5-mm ZPU-4 and twenty 37-mm Type 55 air defence guns; and twelve 76-mm ZIS-3, twelve 122-mm, and an unknown number of 105-mm artillery pieces. The mortar inventory consists of eight 120-mm M-43, twenty-four 82-mm M-43, and some 81-mm M-29s. There also are an unknown number of 89-mm rocket launchers and 106-mm M-40A1 recoilless launchers. The mission of the aeronaval forces' 500-personnel air component includes combat, transport, and maritime patrol duties. The air force maintains its headquarters at Ivato, near Antananarivo, and operates from bases at Antalaha, Antsohiky, Arivoniamamo, Diego Suarez, Fianarantsoa, Fort Dauphin, Majunga, Nosy Be, Tamatave, and Tuléar. The air force consists of one fighter squadron with ten MiG-21 Fishbed and four MiG-17 Fresco aircraft; a transport squadron that includes four An-26 Curl, two Yak-40 Codling, three BN-2 Defender, two C-47 Dakotas, and two C212 Aviocar aircraft; and a helicopter squadron with six Mi-8 Hip transport helicopters. Additionally, the air force possesses one Cessna 310, three Cessna 337, one PA-23 Aztec utility/communications aircraft, and four Cessna 172 trainer aircraft. The 500-member Malagasy navy, which lacks a sea-going capability, performs a coastal patrol mission from bases at Diego Suarez, Tamatave, Fort Dauphin, Tuléar, and Majunga. The naval inventory consists of one Malaika (French type PR48-meter design) patrol boat; and one Toky (French BATRAM design), one LCT (French EDIC design), one LCA, and three LCVP amphibious craft. Data as of August 1994
Find a mistake? Want to submit pictures or content? Contact WildMadagascar.org Almost all pictures on this site were taken with a Konica Minolta |
WILDMADAGASCAR.ORG
SUPPORT You can help support wildmadagascar.org by using this link to buy from Amazon.com.
RECENT NEWS Mining and biodiversity offsets in Madagascar 
(08/30/2009) Rio Tinto's ilmenite mine in southeastern Madagascar is among the largest on the planet. At peak capacity, its owners say, it could produce as much as 2 million tons of the stuff—worth roughly $100 a ton—each year, to be shipped off and smelted abroad. What's left of it after refining—some 60 percent of the ore that arrives from Madagascar—will be sold for $2000 a ton as titanium dioxide, a pigment used in everything from white paint and tennis court lines to sunscreen and toothpaste.
Destruction worsens in Madagascar (08/20/2009) Armed bands are decimating rainforest reserves in northeastern Madagascar, killing lemurs and intimidating conservation workers, despite widespread condemnation by international environmental groups. Appalling photos reveal lemur carnage in Madagascar (08/20/2009) New pictures released by Conservation International depict a troubling development in Madagascar: the emergence of a commercial bushmeat market for lemurs. In the aftermath of a March coup that saw Madagascar's president replaced at gunpoint by the capital city's mayor, Madagascar's reserves — especially in the northern part of the country — were ravaged by illegal loggers. Armed bands, financed by foreign timber traders, went into Marojejy and Masoala national parks, harvesting valuable hardwoods including rosewood and ebonies. Without support from the central government — or international agencies that pulled aid following the coup — there was no one to stop the carnage. But now it emerges that timber wasn't the only target. Saving the tsingy forests in Madagascar (08/17/2009) After the success of their Sahafina Forest project, Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar is now branching out to the tsingy forest of Beanka, a project set to launch in October this year. Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar (BCM) has been granted a 25-year lease on a 14,000-hectare area of dry hardwood forest, the Beanka tsingy, situated 75 km east of Maintirano in western Madagascar. 'Tsingy' are spectacular razor-sharp limestone pinnacles found on the west and north of the island, formed by acidic rain erosion. The deciduous forests that inhabit them are characterized by high plant and animal endemism. The Malagasy organization plans to apply the same principles here – protection of the forest, socio-economic development and forest restoration – that brought them success with their last project, the 2,500-hectare forest block of Sahafina on Madagascar’s east coast. Lessons from the crisis in Madagascar, an interview with Erik Patel (08/11/2009) On March 17th of this year the President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, resigned his post. This made way for Andry Rajoelina, mayor of Madagascar's capital, to install himself as president with help from the military. The unrest and confusion that usually accompanies such a coup brought disaster on many of Madagascar's biological treasures. Within days of Ravalomanana's resignation, armed gangs, allegedly funded by Chinese traders, entered two of Madagascar's world-renowned national parks, Marojejy and Masoala parks, and began to log rosewood, ebonies, and other valuable hardwoods. The pillaging lasted months but the situation began to calm down over the summer. Now that the crisis in Madagascar has abated—at least for the time being—it's time to take stock. In order to do so, Mongabay spoke to Erik Patel, an expert on the Critically Endangered Silky Sifaka and frequent visitor to Madagascar, to find out what the damage looks like firsthand and to see what lessons might be learned. Despite violent protests and coup, Daewoo continues to hold cropland in Madagascar (06/19/2009) Despite violent protests that have left more than 100 dead and led to the ouster of a democratically-elected president, Daewoo Logistics Corp. continues to hold 218,000 hectares of cropland in Madagascar, according to a new campaign by Rainforest Rescue. Conservation success in Madagascar proves illusory in crisis (06/12/2009) Despite the popularity he enjoyed abroad, domestic support for ousted president Marc Ravalomanana eroded rather quickly last February when he went head to head with Andry Rajoelina, the rookie mayor of Madagascar's capital. Rajoelina rallied disparate opposition groups to the cause and soon toppled the incumbent to become, at his own proclamation, President of the "High Authority of Transition." For the country as a whole, the results have not been encouraging. The tourism industry has shriveled to a shadow of itself, important donors have suspended non-humanitarian aid, and a power vacuum has set in in remote regions of the island, wreaking havoc on some of its most fragile and prized ecosystems. Forest Recovery Programs in Madagascar (06/01/2009) Despite being one of the last habitable land masses on earth to be settled by man, Madagascar has lost more of its forests than most countries; less than 10% of its original forest cover now remains, and much of that is degraded. Political turmoil that erupted earlier this year continues to rumble on and the ensuing lawlessness has created the opportunity for illegal logging syndicates to plunder national parks, most notably Marojejy and Masoala, for valuable hardwoods and wildlife. Approximately 200 new frogs discovered in Madagascar threatened by political instability (05/11/2009) Amid the amphibian extinction crisis—where amphibians worldwide are disappearing due to habitat loss, pollution, and a devastating fungal epidemic—the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC) has announced some good news. In a survey of the island-nation of Madagascar they have identified between 129 and 221 new species of frogs. The discovery of so many new species nearly doubles the island's total number of frogs. More news
GEAR 
|
|
home | photos index | search | about | contact Unless otherwise noted, all content and images are the property of Rhett Butler, content copyright 2004-2009. All rights reserved. |
