Sudan vs. Central African Republic
Military
| Sudan | Central African Republic | |
|---|---|---|
| Military branches | Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF): Ground Force, Navy, Sudanese Air Force; Rapid Support Forces (RSF, paramilitary); Reserve Department (formerly the paramilitary Popular Defense Forces) (2020) the RSF is an autonomous paramilitary force formed in 2013 to fight armed rebel groups in Sudan, with Mohammed Hamdan DAGALLO (aka Hemeti) as its commander (he is also Deputy Chairman of the Sovereignty Council), from the remnants of the Janjaweed militia that participated in suppressing the Darfur rebellion; it was initially placed under the National Intelligence and Security Service, then came under the direct command of former president Omar al-BASHIR, who boosted the RSF as his own personal security force; the RSF has been accused of committing rights abuses against civilians; it is also reportedly involved in business enterprises, such as gold mining; in late 2019, Sovereignty Council Chairman and SAF Commander-in-Chief General Abd-al-Fatah al-BURHAN said the RSF would be fully integrated into the SAF, but did not give a timeline | Central African Armed Forces (Forces Armees Centrafricaines, FACA): Army (includes an air squadron, Escadrille Centrafricaine), General Directorate of Gendarmerie Inspection (DGIG); National Police (2020) |
| Military service age and obligation | 18-33 years of age for male and female compulsory or voluntary military service; 1-2 year service obligation (2019) | 18 years of age for military service; no conscription (2019) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 1.6% of GDP (2019) 2.3% of GDP (2018) 3.5% of GDP (2017) 2.9% of GDP (2016) 2.4% of GDP (2015) | 1.5% of GDP (2019 est.) 1.4% of GDP (2018 est.) 1.4% of GDP (2017 est.) 1.5% of GDP (2016 est.) 1.7% of GDP (2015 est.) |
| Military - note | in October 2020, after almost a year of negotiations, Sudan's transitional government and a broad alliance of armed rebel groups known as the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) signed a peace agreement; the SRF rebels had operated in Darfur, South Kordofan, and the Blue Nile provinces; under the agreement, SRF fighters are to be slowly incorporated into joint units with government security forces over a period of 39 months; however, two rebel groups - the Darfur-based Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), which controls territory in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile provinces, are not part of the agreement; in March 2021, the Sudanese Government and the SPLM-N agreed to re-start peace talks the Sudanese military and security forces reportedly control over 200 commercial companies, including businesses involved in gold mining, rubber production, agriculture, and meat exports United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) has operated in the disputed Abyei region along the border between Sudan and South Sudan since 2011; UNISFA's mission includes ensuring security, protecting civilians, strengthening the capacity of the Abyei Police Service, de-mining, monitoring/verifying the redeployment of armed forces from the area, and facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid; UNISFA had about 3,800 personnel deployed as of July 2021in addition, the United Nations African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) operated in the war-torn Darfur region since 2007 until its mission was completed in mid-2021; UNAMID was a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping force with the mission of bringing stability to Darfur, including protecting civilians, facilitating humanitarian assistance, and promoting mediation efforts, while peace talks on a final settlement continued; in July 2021, UNAMID entered a year-long liquidation phase in which it will maintain a guard unit consisting of about 360 police to protect UN personnel, facilities, and assets inside the El Fasher Logistics Base; Sudanese joint security forces will continue to be deployed outside the base and assist the remaining UN contingent with securing its perimeter; note - the October 2020 peace agreement provided for the establishment of a joint security force comprised of 12,000 members tasked with securing the Darfur region in the place of UNAMID; in June 2021, Sudan's transitional government announced it would increase the size of this force to 20,000 and expand its mission scope to include the capital and other parts of the country suffering from violence; the force would include the SAF, RSF, police, intelligence, and representatives from armed groups involved in peace negotiations | the FACA is currently assessed as unable to provide adequate internal security for the country; the military was dissolved following the 2013 rebel seizure of the government and has struggled to rebuild in the years of instability since; France, Russia, the UN, and the European Union are providing various levels of security assistance the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) has operated in the country since 2014; its peacekeeping mission includes providing security, protecting civilians, facilitating humanitarian assistance, disarming and demobilizing armed groups, and supporting the country's fragile transitional government; in November 2019, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the MINUSCA peacekeeping mission another year; as of January 2021, MINUSCA had nearly 15,000 total personnel, including about 11,000 troops and 2,000 police the European Union Training Mission in the Central African Republic (EUTM-RCA) has operated in the country since 2016; the EUTM-RCA contributes to the restructuring of the country's military and defense sector through advice, training, and educational programs |
| Military and security service personnel strengths | information varies widely, ranging from about 100,000 to more than 200,000 active personnel, including approximately 1,500 Navy and 3,000 Air Force; est. 30-40,000 paramilitary Rapid Support Forces; est. 20,000 Reserve Department (formerly the paramilitary Popular Defense Forces) (2020) note: in August 2020, Sudan and the major rebel group Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) signed an agreement to integrate the group's fighters into the Sudanese Army by the end of 2023 | information varies; approximately 10,000 active troops, including an air component of 100-200 and up to 2,000 Gendarmerie (2020) |
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the SAF's inventory includes a mix of Chinese, Russian, Soviet-era, Ukrainian, and domestically-produced weapons systems; since 2010, the leading arms providers to the SAF are Belarus, China, Russia, and Ukraine; Sudan has a domestic arms industry that manufactures ammunition, small arms, and armored vehicles, largely based on older Chinese and Russian systems (2020) | the FACA is lightly and poorly armed with mostly outdated weapons; since 2010, it has received small amounts of second-hand equipment from China, Russia, and Ukraine (2020) note: since 2013, CAR has been under a UNSC arms embargo; the embargo bans all supplies of arms and related materiel to the country except to the CAR security forces if approved in advance by the relevant UN Sanctions Committee |
Source: CIA Factbook
