ghway which is
not in the total

Inland waterways: 2,220 km, including 2 large lakes

Pipelines: crude oil 56 km

Ports: Bluefields, Corinto, El Bluff, Puerto Cabezas, Puerto Sandino,
Rama, San Juan del Sur

Merchant marine: none

Airports:
total: 198
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 3
with paved runways under 914 m: 149
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 2
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 39

@Nicaragua:Communications

Telephone system: 60,000 telephones; low-capacity radio relay and wire
system being expanded; connection into Central American Microwave
System
local: NA
intercity: wire and radio relay
international: 1 Intersputnik and 1 INTELSAT (Atlantic Ocean) earth
station

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM 45, FM 0, shortwave 3
radios: NA

Television:
broadcast stations: 7
televisions: NA

@Nicaragua:Defense Forces

Branches: Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force
note: total strength of all branches - 14,500

Manpower availability: males age 15-49 982,345; males fit for military
service 604,721; males reach military age (18) annually 47,064 (1995
est.)

Defense expenditures: exchange rate conversion - $32 million, 1.7% of
GDP (1994), 8.1% of government budget

________________________________________________________________________

NIGER

@Niger:Geography

Location: Western Africa, southeast of Algeria

Map references: Africa

Area:
total area: 1.267 million sq km
land area: 1,266,700 sq km
comparative area: slightly less than twice the size of Texas

Land boundaries: total 5,697 km, Algeria 956 km, Benin 266 km, Burkina
628 km, Chad 1,175 km, Libya 354 km, Mali 821 km, Nigeria 1,497 km

Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims: none; landlocked

International disputes: Libya claims about 19,400 sq km in northern
Niger; demarcation of international boundaries in Lake Chad, the lack
of which has led to border incidents in the past, is completed and
awaiting ratification by Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria; Burkina
and Mali are proceeding with boundary demarcation, including the
tripoint with Niger

Climate: desert; mostly hot, dry, dusty; tropical in extreme south

Terrain: predominately desert plains and sand dunes; flat to rolling
plains in south; hills in north

Natural resources: uranium, c