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Cote d'Ivoire vs. Burkina Faso

Military

Cote d'IvoireBurkina Faso
Military branchesArmed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire (Forces Armees de Cote d'Ivoire, FACI; aka Republican Forces of Ivory Coast, FRCI): Army (Armee de Terre), Navy (Marine Nationale), Cote Air Force (Force Aerienne Cote), Special Forces (Forces Speciale); National Gendarmerie (under the Ministry of Defense); National Police (under the Ministry of Security and Civil Protection); Coordination Center for Operational Decisions (a mix of police, gendarmerie, and FACI personnel for assisting police in providing security in some large cities) (2020)Armed Forces of Burkina Faso (FABF): Army of Burkina Faso (L'Armee de Terre, LAT), Air Force of Burkina Faso (Force Aerienne de Burkina Faso, FABF), National Gendarmerie; Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (a civilian defense force established in 2019 to act as auxiliaries to the military in the fight against militants) (2021)

note: the National Gendarmerie officially reports to the Ministry of Defense, but usually operates in support of the Ministry of Security and the Ministry of Justice; Gendarmerie troops are typically integrated with Army forces in anti-terrorism operations; for example, Gendarmerie, Army, and police forces were combined to form a 1,500-member task force known as the Groupement des Forces Anti-Terroristes (GFAT) to address terrorist activities along the country's northern border in 2013
Military service age and obligation18-25 years of age for compulsory and voluntary male and female military service; conscription is not enforced; voluntary recruitment of former rebels into the new national army is restricted to ages 22-29 (2019)18 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription; women may serve in supporting roles (2019)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP1.1% of GDP (2019 est.)

1.4% of GDP (2018)

1.3% of GDP (2017)

1.7% of GDP (2016)

1.7% of GDP (2015)
2.4% of GDP (2019)

2.1% of GDP (2018)

1.4% of GDP (2017)

1.2% of GDP (2016)

1.3% of GDP (2015)
Military - notethe military has mutinied several times since the late 1990s, most recently in 2017, and has had a large role in the country's political turmoil; currently, the FACI is focused on internal security and the growing threat posed by Islamic militants associated with the al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorist group operating across the border in Burkina Faso; AQIM militants conducted significant attacks in the country in 2016 and 2020; Côte d'Ivoire since 2016 has stepped up border security and completed building a joint counter-terrorism training center with France near Abidjan in 2020

the UN maintained a 9,000-strong peacekeeping force in Cote d'Ivoire (UNOCI) from 2004 until 2017
since at least 2016, the Armed Forces of Burkina Faso have been actively engaged in combat operations with terrorist groups linked to al-Qa'ida and ISIS; military operations have occurred in the Centre-Est, Centre-Nord, Est, Nord, and Sahel administrative regions

Burkina Faso is part of a five-nation anti-jihadist task force known as the G5 Sahel Group, set up in 2014 with Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger; it has committed 550 troops and 100 gendarmes to the force; the G5 force is backed by the UN, US, and France; G5 troops periodically conduct joint operations with French forces deployed to the Sahel under Operation Barkhane; in early 2020, G5 Sahel military chiefs of staff agreed to allow defense forces from each of the states to pursue terrorist fighters up to 100 km into neighboring countries (2021)
Military and security service personnel strengthsthe Armed Forces of Cote d'Ivoire have approximately 25,000 active troops (23,000 Army, including about 2,000 Special Forces; 1,000 Navy; 1,000 Air Force); est. 5-10,000 Gendarmerie (2020)the Armed Forces of Burkina Faso (FABF) have approximately 12,000 personnel (7,000 Army; 500 Air Force; 4,500 National Gendarmerie) (2021)
Military equipment inventories and acquisitionsthe inventory of the FACI consists mostly of older or second-hand equipment, typically of French or Soviet-era origin; Cote d'Ivoire was under a partial UN arms embargo from 2004 to 2016; since 2016, it has received limited amounts of mostly second-hand equipment from a variety of countries, with Bulgaria as the leading supplier (2020)the FABF has a mix of foreign-supplied weapons; since 2010, it has received limited amounts of mostly donated second-hand equipment from more than 10 countries (2020)
Military deployments800 Mali (MINUSMA) (Jan 2021)1,075 Mali (MINUSMA) (Jan 2021)

Source: CIA Factbook