ABSTRACT
A common error for those unfamiliar is to take its military establishments at face value, that is, to make the naive assumption that African military forces are comparable with forces in more-developed areas. Africa's military environment has been changing since independence and has reached a watershed; in many states the military are becoming credible national forces. The characteristics of Africa's changing military environment easiest to quantify are the growing size of the armies and the increase in modern weaponry. African armies are better at mobilizing than at demobilizing. Three wars during the 1970s–the Angolan Civil War, the Ogaden War, and the Tanzania-Uganda War–illustrate a mobilization capability that was previously unknown. Most sources tend to agree that African armies will continue to grow, but they often disagree on the extent of the increases. The pace of arms transfers to sub-Saharan Africa has been quickening, particularly since the mid-1970s.
