Appendix 1

Tangaru

Tungaru was formerly part of German North-East Africa. After 1918, it was handed to the British government under a League of Nations mandate. In 1940, Italian troops invaded Tungaru, and the current defence force traces its origins back to the levies raised by the British before the Italians were expelled in 1942, and the various guerrilla bands which sprang up behind Italian lines. After the war, the territory continued to be administered by the British until independence in 1956. Although the British controlled the country for some years, few British personnel were in the country, other than soldiers and administrators, and the British influence declined sharply after they left.

Tungaru has a population of 22 million people, of which some 40% are Muslim (mainly in the north), and 45% Christian (mainly in the south). There are also smaller Jewish and Hindu communities. On the whole, relations between the various communities since independence have been good, but this has been achieved by a careful and laborious balancing act. The major communities are themselves divided into several factions, and there are eight main political parties, generally drawing support on both a regional and religious basis. All Tungaran governments are coalitions, and they must include at least one major Muslim political party if the prime minister is a Christian, and vice versa, as well as one party from a smaller ethnic group. The Christians were traditionally landowners and farmers, in the fertile south of the country. The Muslims were stronger in the towns, and have dominated the professions and the media, as well as providing most of the country’s limited number of scientists and engineers. Although census returns are not completely reliable, indications are that the Muslim population is increasing slightly faster than the Christian population and, by 2005, will be about to overtake it.

The Tungaran Defence Force (TDF) is some 120 000 strong, and is well-trained, although most of its equipment is now out of date. Traditionally, it was dominated by the Christian aristocracy, who provided the officers, and still make up the majority of the infantry and cavalry commanders. As the army has become more technically oriented, Muslims have joined in greater numbers, but have tended to be concentrated in the support and technical areas. The small navy has always been largely Muslim, drawing on the tradition of seafaring and trading with the Gulf, which was strong in the north of the country. The air force, which is increasing in size, is split roughly 50/50 between the two main communities.

As with Tungaran public life generally, the command of the TDF is carefully managed to satisfy all communities. By convention, the army chief is a Christian and the navy chief a Muslim. The air force post is rotational. The army chief is also the de facto national military commander in war, although he has little authority over the other two services in peacetime. The chairperson of the Service Chiefs Committee is also rotational, although he only has a small staff. The defence secretary is, in theory, appointed on ability alone but, in practice, the post is usually rotational. Below the top level, however, both military and civilian posts are usually awarded on merit, provided a broad balance is maintained. Jews and Hindus rarely serve in the armed forces, but they are keen, nonetheless, that no single community should dominate them.

The TDF is composed as follows:

Army 80 000

2 infantry divisions (1 infantry, 1 mechanised brigades)

1 mechanised division (2 mechanised, 1 infantry brigade)

1 artillery brigade

1 para-commando battalion

21 local defence battalions

about 90 M-48 tanks

about 150 Panhard armoured cars

about 200 M-113 antipersonnel carriers

36 artillery pieces (mainly 105mm)

Some TOW and Stinger missiles

Navy 20 000

2 frigates (ex-Dutch)

2 Corvettes

4 missile patrol boats (with Exocet)

12 fast patrol boats

4 mine warfare ships

2 amphibious support ships

Air force 20 000

2 fighter squadrons (with F-5)

3 fighter/ground attack squadrons (with F-5 and Mirage F-1)

2 ground-attack squadrons (with Alpha Jet)

1 reconnaissance squadron (with Defender)

1 maritime patrol squadron (with Atlantique)

1 strategic transport squadron (with C-130)

2 tactical transport/VIP squadrons (various types)

2 attack helicopter squadrons (with UH-1)

2 support helicopter squadrons (with Super Puma)

Military service is currently 15 months, although 70% of the Navy and 75% of the air force, consist of professionals. Defence spending in the current year is about US $1.2 billion.

The training standards of the TDF are regarded as good, and it has carried out a number of successful peacekeeping deployments in Africa and elsewhere.

Regional issues

Tungaran forces were involved in fighting against both Ethiopia and Somalia in the confused conflicts of the 1970s, and acquitted themselves well. There were inconclusive skirmishes with neighbouring Njedi in 1984 and 1986. Military relations with Kenya and Uganda are close, but not very substantial. The TDF is a sizeable force in regional terms, and causes some nervousness among Tungaru’s neighbours. Tungaru has always played a major role in defence and security discussions in the Organisation for African Unity (OAU), and has recently become one of Africa’s major suppliers of peacekeeping forces, including Rwanda (1 infantry battalion and logistic troops), Bosnia (1 mechanised battalion and 1 engineer regiment), and Cyprus (1 engineer company). The TDF trains a number of officers from neighbouring states, and has good defence relations with Britain, France, Australia and both India and Pakistan. With the resolution of the Ogaden conflict, there are increasing calls for the TDF to be scaled down and made less potent.

Organisation and policymaking

Until 1968, there were separate headquarters for the army and navy, and a secretary’s department concerned mainly with finance. In 1969, the air force became a separate service, and a ministry of defence was formed from the secretary’s department and a new defence staff headed by the CDF. The ministry of defence was, very weak, however, and confined itself mainly to scrutinising suggestions for spending money. The three chiefs retained their right of direct access to the prime minister.

In 1977, as Tungaru began to be involved in fighting on its borders, two significant changes were made:

The army commander was also appointed national military commander designate in the event of war.



A service chiefs committee was formed, chaired by the CDF, to make recommendations.

However, except for short periods of time, Tungaru was not at war, and operations had to be carried out by consultation between army and air headquarters, which were some distance away.

As things currently stand, the defence structure consists of:

the defence committee of the cabinet;

the defence minister’s committee (including the chiefs and the secretary); and

the service chiefs committee (SCC) on which the secretary sits.

The SCC is supported by a defence staff which has gained more influence since the 1970s, but whose main job is still to broker consensus among the three services. Since 1985, however, the CDF has had the right to present proposals directly to the minister, and several have done so. The secretariat has worked hard to make links with the defence staff, and the secretary and the CDF can, if they agree on something, often get it accepted by the minister. The navy and the air force are strongly opposed to a strengthened defence staff, because they feel that their interests would be swamped by the weight of numbers. Their position, however, is becoming harder to defend as multiservice operations become the norm.

Civil-military relations

On independence, the government passed into the hands of a group of nationalist politicians who had been close to the British. With discreet help, and possibly funding from outside, the Tungaran Peoples Party (TPP) won the 1956 election. The new prime minister, Dr Tekondi, was popular at first, but soon became resented by the non-Christian groups for his arbitrary policies. In June 1959, he suspended the constitution and made himself life president. At that stage, the defence force was just being organised, and tried to stay out of the conflict. However, in January 1960, several high-ranking Muslim officers were arrested on charges of treason, and it was feared that the army might split. In an historic move, the army and navy commanders agreed to intervene. Tekondi and some of his immediate supporters were arrested and shot, and free elections were called for December 1960. Since the military intervention, Tungaru has been a stable, multiparty democracy. The Tekondi affair added greatly to the confidence and prestige of the defence force, not least because a Christian army commander had helped to overthrow a Christian dictator. The 1962 constitution sets out the tasks of the defence force as "the defence of the liberty, national interests, territorial integrity and Constitution of Tungaru", although successive CDFs have stressed that they do not interpret this as a licence to interfere in politics. All TDF recruits are, however, taught that the defence force "saved the nation" in 1960. Implicit in this, is the thought that they might need to do so again.

Political system

Tungaru has a unicameral parliamentary system elected by a regional list system every five years. The president, elected by parliament, usually serves a single term of five to seven years. He has largely ceremonial functions, but is the titular head of the armed forces. (By convention, the president is usually a senior politician from the Hindu or Jewish communities). The president is responsible for choosing the prime minister, but on the basis ordinarily of appealing to the leader of the largest party first. The president has the power to dissolve parliament against the wishes of the prime minister, although this has never happened in practice.

Government in Tungaru is very devolved, with only defence, foreign affairs and economic and trade policy being decided at national level. This involves the TDF in dealings with many local political figures, who may themselves be from opposition parties at national level. Political loyalties are still very tied up with clan and regional affiliation, and an informal spoils system operates at both local and national level. Ministers will generally try to channel expenditure to their region, or failing that, their community, and the existing defence estate is probably not in the right place on cost-effectiveness grounds. There is a degree of corruption at local and national level. The bureaucracy is underpaid and understaffed, and a market-led system has grown up where priority in certain cases is based on willingness to pay.

Current issues

The current government, elected in 1999, has said that it intends to reduce the size of the TDF to 100 000 over the next five years. In return, some new equipment will be purchased to improve the TDF’s capability. No firm decision has been taken on the future size of the defence budget, but it is likely to decline in real terms. A defence review process has just begun, but is making very slow progress. There are several reasons for this:

Each service has produced its own proposals, which would give it more resources and new tasks. The ministry of defence is trying to broker a compromise, but the services are a long way apart. Ministers are aware that decisions about the future of each service will also be seen by the various communities as political statements, and have asked the services to reach a conclusion on their own: they are unwilling to exert themselves.



The services have been asked to look at the possibility of ending conscription and moving to a volunteer force. The navy and air force have said that they might be prepared to consider this, but the army is very reluctant. It has said that it does not believe that it will be able to attract the standard of recruits it needs, especially in the combat arms, unless pay is substantially increased. But, the finance ministry is arguing for low rates of pay, given that 20% unemployment exists already. In addition, many are worried that the traditional school of the nation function performed by the army may be in jeopardy, and that the large infrastructure works programme carried out by the army, mainly using conscripts, will have to be reduced or stopped entirely.



In spite of high unemployment, there is a national shortage of skills, and many of the brighter young people are emigrating. The TDF has always been a major provider of technical education (five out of seven of the nation’s technical colleges are military-run), and there is concern that a smaller defence force could result in large reductions in civilian training.



The army has been considering plans for the use of female recruits in the (previously all-male) TDF. Initially, they would not be used in combat roles. However, this proposal has been heavily criticised by conservative political and religious leaders in the country. The minister of defence is undecided about what to do.