10 Things You Didn't Know About Burundi
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Burundi
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Hello Displorers, welcome to another informative video presented to you by Displore and thanks for watching. In this video, we will take an indebt look at one of Africa’s smallest Country, Burundi.Burundi is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge. Burundi is one of the few countries in Africa, along with its neighbour Rwanda among others such as Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini, to be a direct territorial continuation of a pre-colonial era African state. The early history of Burundi, and especially the role and nature of the country's three dominant ethnic groups; the Twa, Hutu and Tutsi, is highly debated amongst academics. However, it is important to note that the nature of culture and ethnic groups is always fluid and changing. While the groups might have migrated to the area at different times and as distinctly different ethnic groups, the current distinctions are contemporary socio-cultural constructs. Initially the different ethnic groups lived together in relative peace before problems started emanating and the first conflicts between ethnic groups can be dated back to the 17th century, when land was becoming ever scarcer because of the continuous growth in population.The Twa, Hutu and Tutsi peoples have lived in Burundi for at least 500 years. For more than 200 ofthose years, Burundi was an independent kingdom, until the beginning of the 20th century, when Germany colonised the region. Burundi is a member of the African Union, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, UnitedNations and the Non-Aligned Movement.
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Burundi has a population of about 11.8 million people spread over 27.834km2 of land. The official languages of the country is Kirundi and French. So lets take a closer look at this small African country with the 10 Things you didn’t know about Burundi.
1. Burundi is the First Country in the World to Leave the ICC
Due to large criticism from the International Criminal Court to Burundi, Burundi left the ICC. Burundi's government has been repeatedly criticised by human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch for the multiple arrests and trials of journalist Jean-Claude Kavumbagu for issues related to his reporting. Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience and called for his "immediate and unconditional release." Also, on 13 July 2017, human rights defender Germain Rukuki was arrested in the capital of Burundi, Bujumbura and he is currently serving an outrageous 32-year prison sentence simply for advocating for human rights. To avoid facing their acts of violence and human rights abuses, Burundi officially left the International Criminal Court, ICC on 27 October 2017, the first country in the world to do so. The move came after the UN accused the country of various crimes and human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings, torture and sexual violence, in a September 2017 report. The ICC announced on 9 November 2017 that human rights violations from the time Burundi was a member would still be prosecuted.
2. Burundi is the Poorest African Country
Burundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural, accounting for 50% of GDP in 2017 and employing more than 90% of the population. One of the smallest countries in Africa, Burundi's land is used mostly for subsistence agricultural and grazing, which has led to deforestation, soil erosion and habitat loss. Subsistence agriculture accounts for 90% of agriculture. Burundi's primary exports are coffee and tea, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings, though exports are a relatively small share of GDP. Other agricultural products include cotton, tea, maize, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc, beef, milk and hides. Even though subsistence farming is highly relied upon, many people do not have the resources to sustain themselves. This is due to large population growth and no coherent policies governing land ownership. Burundi is one of the world's poorest countries, owing in part to its landlocked geography, poor legal system, lack of economic freedom, lack of access to education and the proliferation of HIV/AIDS leading to approximately 80% of Burundi's population living in poverty. Famines and food shortages have occurred throughout Burundi, most notably in the 20th century, and according to the World Food Programme, 56.8% of children underage five suffer from chronic malnutrition.
