MALI DROPS FRENCH AS OFFICIAL LANGUAGE


Mali in a recent referendum, dated June 18th, 2023, has decided to drop the French as its official language in favour of its local languages. French will however be recognised as a working language. It has been over 60 years that Mali had independence from France and French has been the main official language until this recent decision by the people. The constitutional court has validated the 96.91% approval from voters as the final results.

Thirteen (13) national languages spoken within the country will be formally recognised as official languages whiles French, as earlier stated will still function as a working language.     There is hope that with time, there will be a gradual shift from the use of French and fully adopting their local languages and encouraging their use in the international front. 

This is a great idea as it would help preserve its local languages helping them to compete in the international front. It is also said that 70 languages which had been known as national languages of Mali would still be retained.

The local languages that will act as official languages are : Bambara, Bobo, Bozo, Difon, Fula, Hasaniya, Kassonke, Maninke, Mayinka, Senufo languages,Songhay languages, Soninke and Tamasheq.

"Since August 2020, Mali has been under a military junta rule due to Jihadists, political instability and coup d'etat. The junta has insisted that a new constitution is essential to rebuilding the country, promising to return to civilian rule with elections in February 2024 after an earlier plan failed.Interim President Assimi Goita has announced that the implementation of the constitutional framework signals the beginning of the Fourth Republic."

The relationship between Mali and France hasn't been that well in the recent past such that France had to withdraw its troops from Mali after a 9 year military operation and even NGOs sponsored by France had to cease operations in the country.


I am Huniah Tetteh, born 10th October 1995 and a lover of languages and ethnicity studies. I love animals and traveling and ready to do everything to push the study of languages to the world

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