Central African Republic - Military Spending

Approximately US$30 million was spent annually on the military in the 1990s, but the equipment is dated and of poor quality. In the past, the French strongly influenced military operations in the C.A.R. Its influence is not as strong since the 1996-97 mutinies and subsequent French force draw-down from the CAR. Future reform of the military may result in a personnel increase.

Following the 2008 national security sector reform seminar, short-term activities had been implemented satisfactorily, in accordance with an agreed timetable. Military personnel had retired in order to rejuvenate the armed forces, and barracks were being constructed in several parts of the country with funding from the Peacebuilding Fund in order to create a garrisoned army better prepared to address different threats. The Government was open to integrating demobilized ex-combatants into the security forces while respecting the ethnic balance and appropriate size of those forces. A code of military justice was under preparation.

Following the (failed) October 2009 security sector reform round table, at which 21 projects had been presented, the Government had reduced its list of priority projects to 10 projects, which had been incorporated in the country’s poverty reduction strategy paper for 2011-2015, and expected financial support from the international community to cover the estimated cost of $55 million to implement those projects, essentially consisting in the material reinforcement of the armed forces.

With the Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration effort, though the international community is paying the cost of Demobilization, it is still looking to fund the last D and R, with no money coming from the CARG itself. President Bozize reacted with personal anger at the insistence by the United Nations that the money provided by the CEMAC nations for DDR be used for DDR. (The CARG had argued that this money was intended for general economic support.) As part of security sector reform, the CARG used all of the money granted by the international community to retire, i.e. pay off, a large part of its bloated officer corps. Predictably, the CARG was seeking more funds from the international community to conclude the process. International NGOs, who reentered the CAR in a wave after the violence of 2006, all echoed the same frustrated sentiment that sums up the attitude of the international community in the CAR: "we cannot want it more than the Central Africans do."

By November 2011 there was a continued apparent lack of an overall medium- to long-term national strategy on security sector reform in the Central African Republic. The reform revolved around a list of 10 seemingly randomly selected projects, with a price tag of around $60 million. This approach seemed disconnected from the goal of building an effective, ethnically diverse and well- trained republican army.

According to the World Bank, military expenditures data from SIPRI are derived from the NATO definition, which includes all current and capital expenditures on the armed forces, including peacekeeping forces; defense ministries and other government agencies engaged in defense projects; paramilitary forces, if these are judged to be trained and equipped for military operations; and military space activities. Such expenditures include military and civil personnel, including retirement pensions of military personnel and social services for personnel; operation and maintenance; procurement; military research and development; and military aid (in the military expenditures of the donor country).

Excluded are civil defense and current expenditures for previous military activities, such as for veterans' benefits, demobilization, conversion, and destruction of weapons. This definition cannot be applied for all countries, however, since that would require much more detailed information than is available about what is included in military budgets and off-budget military expenditure items. (For example, military budgets might or might not cover civil defense, reserves and auxiliary forces, police and paramilitary forces, dual-purpose forces such as military and civilian police, military grants in kind, pensions for military personnel, and social security contributions paid by one part of government to another.)

NATO defines defense expenditure as payments made by a national government specifically to meet the needs of its armed forces or those of Allies. A major component of defense expenditure is payments on Armed Forces financed within the Ministry of Defense (MoD) budget. Armed Forces include Land, Maritime and Air forces as well as Joint formations such as Administration and Command, Special Operations Forces, Medical Service, Logistic Command etc. In view of the differences between the NATO and national definitions, the figures shown may diverge considerably from those which are quoted by national authorities or given in national budgets.

They might also include "Other Forces" like Ministry of Interior troops, border guards, national police forces, customs, gendarmerie, carabinierie, coast guards etc. In such cases, expenditure should be included only in proportion to the forces that are trained in military tactics, are equipped as a military force, can operate under direct military authority in deployed operations, and can, realistically, be deployed outside national territory in support of a military force. Also, expenditure on Other Forces financed through the budgets of ministries other than MoD should be included in defense expenditure.

Pension payments made directly by the government to retired military and civilian employees of military departments should be included regardless of whether these payments are made from the budget of the MoD or other ministries. Expenditures for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations (paid by MoD or other ministries), the destruction of weapons, equipment and ammunition, and the costs associated with inspection and control of equipment destruction are included in defense expenditures.

Research and development (R&D) costs are to be included in defense expenditures. R&D costs should also include those for projects that do not successfully lead to production of equipment. Expenditure for the military component of mixed civilian-military activities is included, but only when this military component can be specifically accounted for or estimated. Financial assistance by one Allied country to another, specifically to support the defense effort of the recipient, should be included in the defense expenditure of the donor country and not in the defense expenditure of the receiving country. War damage payments and spending on civil defense are both excluded from the NATO definition of defense expenditure.