Military Spending and Arms Imports in five West African Countries

This report describes the evolution of military expenditures and arms imports during the last decade in five French-speaking West African countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger and Senegal. None of these countries can be considered as a major power, but most of them recently chose to strengthen their military capacities, apparently in response to the terrorist and secessionist threats that shake the sub-region. Without stating about the legitimacy of a military answer to this type of threats, the note intends to bring some fresh data on the quantity of resources allocated to the defence and security sector, and compare them over time and with regard to the expenses allocated to the social needs for the population of these countries.