Читать книгу The 2009 CIA World Factbook - United States. Central Intelligence Agency - Страница 566

Natural gas - exports:

0 cu m (2008) country comparison to the world: 176

Natural gas - imports:

0 cu m (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 179

Natural gas - proved reserves:

0 cu m (1 January 2009 est.) country comparison to the world: 177

Current account balance:

-$127 million (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 80 -$80.3 million (2007 est.)

Exports:

$85 million (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 195 $91.4 million (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:

peanut products, fish, cotton lint, palm kernels, re-exports

Exports - partners:

India 30.5%, Japan 25.6%, Belgium 6.3%, China 5.5%, UK 5.3%, Spain 4.1% (2008)

Imports:

$299 million (2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 194 $262.9 million (2007 est.)

Imports - commodities:

foodstuffs, manufactures, fuel, machinery and transport equipment

Imports - partners:

China 20.6%, Senegal 12.1%, Cote d'Ivoire 8.7%, Brazil 7.7%,

Netherlands 5% (2008)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

$140 million (31 December 2008 est.) country comparison to the world: 147 $142.8 million (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:

$628.8 million (2003 est.) country comparison to the world: 161

Exchange rates:

dalasis (GMD) per US dollar - 22.75 (2008 est.), 27.79 (2007), 28.066 (2006), 28.575 (2005), 30.03 (2004)

Communications ::Gambia, The

Telephones - main lines in use:

48,900 (2008) country comparison to the world: 164

Telephones - mobile cellular:

1.166 million (2008) country comparison to the world: 138

Telephone system:

general assessment: adequate; a packet switched data network is available; state-owned Gambia Telecommunications partially privatized in 2007

domestic: adequate network of microwave radio relay and open-wire; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity reached 70 telephones per 100 persons in 2008

international: country code - 220; microwave radio relay links to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2008)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 3, FM 2, shortwave 0 (2001)

Television broadcast stations:

1 (government-owned) (1997)

Internet country code:

.gm

Internet hosts:

895 (2009) country comparison to the world: 162

Internet users:

114,200 (2008) country comparison to the world: 148

Transportation ::Gambia, The

Airports:

1 (2009) country comparison to the world: 232

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 1

over 3,047 m: 1 (2009)

Roadways:

total: 3,742 km country comparison to the world: 158 paved: 723 km

unpaved: 3,019 km (2004)

Waterways:

390 km (on River Gambia; small ocean-going vessels can reach 190 km) (2008) country comparison to the world: 89

Merchant marine:

total: 5 country comparison to the world: 133 by type: passenger/cargo 4, petroleum tanker 1 (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Banjul

Military ::Gambia, The

Military branches:

Office of the Chief of Defense: Gambian National Army (National

Guard, GNA), Gambian Navy (GN) (2009)

Military service age and obligation:

18 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2008)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16–49: 379,668

females age 16–49: 384,438 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16–49: 238,454

females age 16–49: 253,680 (2009 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 20,238

female: 20,167 (2009 est.)

Military expenditures:

0.5% of GDP (2006) country comparison to the world: 163

Transnational Issues ::Gambia, The

Disputes - international:

attempts to stem refugees, cross-border raids, arms smuggling, and other illegal activities by separatists from southern Senegal's Casamance region, as well as from conflicts in other west African states

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 5,955 (Sierra Leone) (2007)

Trafficking in persons:

current situation: The Gambia is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; women and girls, and to a lesser extent boys, are trafficked for sexual exploitation - in particular to meet the demand for European sex tourism - and for domestic servitude; boys are trafficked within the country for forced begging and street vending; Gambian women and children may be trafficked to Europe through trafficking schemes disguised as migrant smuggling

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - for a second consecutive year, The Gambia is on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to eliminate trafficking; The Gambia failed to report any trafficking arrests, prosecutions, or convictions in 2007, and the government demonstrated weak victim protection efforts during the reporting period (2008)

page last updated on November 11, 2009

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@Gaza Strip (Middle East)

Introduction ::Gaza Strip

Background:

The September 1993 Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements provided for a transitional period of Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under a series of agreements signed between May 1994 and September 1999, Israel transferred to the Palestinian Authority (PA) security and civilian responsibility for Palestinian-populated areas of the West Bank and Gaza. Negotiations to determine the permanent status of the West Bank and Gaza stalled following the outbreak of an intifada in September 2000, as Israeli forces reoccupied most Palestinian-controlled areas. In April 2003, the Quartet (US, EU, UN, and Russia) presented a roadmap to a final settlement of the conflict by 2005 based on reciprocal steps by the two parties leading to two states, Israel and a democratic Palestine. The proposed date for a permanent status agreement was postponed indefinitely due to violence and accusations that both sides had not followed through on their commitments. Following Palestinian leader Yasir ARAFAT's death in late 2004, Mahmud ABBAS was elected PA president in January 2005. A month later, Israel and the PA agreed to the Sharm el-Sheikh Commitments in an effort to move the peace process forward. In September 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew all its settlers and soldiers and dismantled its military facilities in the Gaza Strip and withdrew settlers and redeployed soldiers from four small northern West Bank settlements. Nonetheless, Israel controls maritime, airspace, and most access to the Gaza Strip. A November 2005 PA-Israeli agreement authorized the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt under joint PA and Egyptian control. In January 2006, the Islamic Resistance Movement, HAMAS, won control of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). The international community refused to accept the HAMAS-led government because it did not recognize Israel, would not renounce violence, and refused to honor previous peace agreements between Israel and the PA. HAMAS took control of the PA government in March 2006, but President ABBAS had little success negotiating with HAMAS to present a political platform acceptable to the international community so as to lift economic sanctions on Palestinians. The PLC was unable to convene throughout most of 2006 as a result of Israel's detention of many HAMAS PLC members and Israeli-imposed travel restrictions on other PLC members. Violent clashes took place between Fatah and HAMAS supporters in the Gaza Strip in 2006 and early 2007, resulting in numerous Palestinian deaths and injuries. ABBAS and HAMAS Political Bureau Chief MISHAL in February 2007 signed the Mecca Agreement in Saudi Arabia that resulted in the formation of a Palestinian National Unity Government (NUG) headed by HAMAS member Ismail HANIYA. However, fighting continued in the Gaza Strip, and in June, HAMAS militants succeeded in a violent takeover of all military and governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip. ABBAS dismissed the NUG and through a series of Presidential decrees formed a PA government in the West Bank led by independent Salam FAYYAD. HAMAS rejected the NUG's dismissal and has called for resuming talks with Fatah, but ABBAS has ruled out negotiations until HAMAS agrees to a return of PA control over the Gaza Strip and recognizes the FAYYAD-led government. FAYYAD and his PA government initiated a series of security and economic reforms to improve conditions in the West Bank. ABBAS participated in talks with Israel's Prime Minister OLMERT and secured the release of some Palestinian prisoners and previously withheld customs revenue. During a November 2007 international meeting in Annapolis Maryland, ABBAS and OLMERT agreed to resume peace negotiations with the goal of reaching a final peace settlement. Late November 2007 through June 2008 witnessed a substantial increase in Israeli-Palestinian violence. An Egyptian-brokered truce in June 2008 between Israel and HAMAS brought about a five-month pause in hostilities, but spiraling end-of-year violence culminated with massive Israeli air assaults on HAMAS installations in late December followed by Israeli ground attacks in early January 2009. Israel in mid January unilaterally stopped the attacks and HAMAS responded by suspending rocket and mortar fire. The fighting resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1,100 to 1,400 Palestinians and left tens of thousands of people homeless. International donors pledged $4.5 billion in aid to rebuild the Gaza Strip, but by mid-May 2009 only a small fraction of the aid had been delivered.

Geography ::Gaza Strip

Location:

Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and

Israel

Geographic coordinates: