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Article 21: The Right to freely dispose of wealth and natural resources
1. All peoples shall freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources. This right shall be exercised in the
exclusive interest of the people. In no case shall a people be deprived of it.
2 In case of spoilation, the dispossessed people shall have the right to the lawful recovery of its property as
well as to an adequate compensation.
3. The free disposal of wealth and natural resources shall be exercised without prejudice to the obligation of
promoting international economic cooperation based on mutual respect, equitable exchange and the
principles of international law.
4. State Parties to the present Charter shall individually and collectively exercise the right to free disposal of
their wealth and natural resources with a view to strengthening African Unity and solidarity.
5. State Parties to the present Charter shall undertake to eliminate all forms of foreign exploitation particularly
that practised by international monopolies so as to enable their peoples to fully benefit from the advantages
derived from their national resources. .
The Burundian sub-soil abounds in wealth and natural resources. Nickel is said to be found in
MUSONGATI and oil in Lake Tanganyika. Despite the presence of this wealth, it remains unexploited
due to lack of the technical means required for its exploitation.
Water is also a very important resource in Burundi and there are several lakes and rivers: Lake
Tanganyika, the Northern lakes (Rwihinda, Cohoha and Rweru). Dams have been constructed on
several rivers for electricity. The lakes provide fish for food and the rivers provide drinking water.
There used to be a South African Company called ENDOVER which wished to extract the Musongati
Nickel but because it was sullied with discrepancies and corruption it had not been able to do so.
This shows the effort being made to ensure that the natural resources benefit the Burundian
population.
Burundi makes its wealth and natural resources available to any partner. It makes it cash crops
available to numerous partners, for instance coffee, tea and cotton, etc.
In order to eliminate all forms of foreign economic exploitation, the State of Burundi is member of
Trade Agreements (international and continental). It also endeavours to enable its population to
benefit fully from the fruits realized from its national resources. As example, Burundi has just placed
the coffee industry in the hands of the population by privatizing it.