Yaounde (National Times)- The Global Fire power (GFP) index has in its 2019 report ranked Cameroon as the 20th strongest military power in Africa and 102nd in the world.
Cameroon according to GFP has about 5.5 million persons fit for military service out of its regular 25 million inhabitants. It notes that, only 14,500 have been retained for the military with all being in active service with no reserve.
The GPF notes that,country is also poorly equipped in terms of military hardware with a total airpower of 29 vessels including six for transport. There are no attack aircrafts as well as no fighter jets. It has 15 helicopters at its service and 220 armored fighting vehicles.
Despite its long coastline, Cameroon has just 64 naval vessels including 13 patrol vessels. It has a total military budget of $370,000,000, roughly 1,850,000,000,000FCFA meaning much of the country’s budget is spent on the military though.
The strongest military power in Africa is Egypt with a score of 0.2283. Egypt is also the 12th strongest military power in the world according to the GFP index 2019. It has a total fighting force of 920,000 soldiers including 480,000 reservists. The country has a fleet of 211 fighter jets putting it among the 10 best airpowers in the world. With a total of 293 helicopters, 2,160 combat tanks and 319 naval vessels, Egypt spends about $4,400,000,000 on its military.
Second on the African list is Algeria with a score of 0.4551. It is followed by South Africa on position number 3 in Africa and 32nd in the world. Then comes Nigeria on position number 4 in Africa and 44 in the world while Ethiopia is on position number 5 in Africa and 47 in the world.
At the level of the Central African sub region, the Republic of Chad is first, on position 16 in Africa and 95 globally with a score of 1,6041. It has 30,500 active forces with no reserves and a total fleet of 34 aircrafts with 16 helicopters and 3 attack helicopters as well as 372 armored fighting vehicles. The last on the African table is Liberia on position 34 with a score of 4,8442
Globally, the United States remains the world’s super power with a military strength of 2.1 million persons. Since 2006, the GFP has been studying and classifying military powers globally. This year 137 countries in the world were classified with 34 from the African continent. It is to be noted that it is only through such publications that Cameroonians have an idea of the strength of their military given that such issues are treated as top secret in the country.
