Mali drops French as its official language
French to be working language from now on, while 13 national languages spoken in country also receive official status
DAKAR, Senegal
With its new constitution, Mali has dropped French, which has been the West African country's official language since 1960.
Under the new constitution passed overwhelmingly with 96.91% of the vote in a June 18 referendum, French is no longer the official language.
French will be the working language from now on, and the 13 national languages spoken in the country will also receive official language status.
Around 70 local languages are spoken in the country and some of them, including Bambara, Bobo, Dogon and Minianka, were granted national language status under a 1982 decree.
On Saturday, Mali's junta leader Col. Assimi Goita put the country's new constitution into effect, marking the beginning of the Fourth Republic in the West African nation, the presidency said.
Since taking power in an August 2020 coup, Mali's military has maintained that the constitution would be critical to rebuilding the country.
Mali witnessed two subsequent coups in recent years, one in August 2020 and the other in May 2021.
The junta had initially promised to hold elections in February 2022 but later delayed them to February 2024.
Mali ditches French as official language
French is no longer the official language in Mali under the country's new constitution passed overwhelmingly following a referendum in June.
There has been growing anti-France sentiment in Mali and other countries in West Africa. Photo: Reuters
With its new constitution, Mali has dropped French, which has been the West African country's official language since 1960.
Under the new constitution passed overwhelmingly with 96.91% of the vote in a June 18 referendum, French is no longer the official language.
French will be the working language from now on, and the 13 national languages spoken in the country will also receive official language status.
Around 70 local languages are spoken in the country and some of them, including Bambara, Bobo, Dogon and Minianka, were granted national language status under a 1982 decree, Anadolu news agency reports.
Anti-French sentiments
On Saturday, Mali's junta leader Col. Assimi Goita put the country's new constitution into effect, marking the beginning of the Fourth Republic in the West African nation, the presidency said.
Since taking power in an August 2020 coup, Mali's military has maintained that the constitution would be critical to rebuilding the country.
Mali witnessed two subsequent coups in recent years, one in August 2020 and the other in May 2021.
The junta had initially promised to hold elections in February 2022 but later delayed them to February 2024.
The decision by Mali to abandon French comes at a time of growing anti-France sentiments across West Africa due to its perceived military and political interference.
Relations between Paris and the military junta in Mali have deteriorated since the coups in the West African country.
Mali scraps French as official language
Bamako’s new constitution replaces its former colonizers’ tongue with others spoken locally
Mali has removed French as its official language, a move that comes more than six decades after Bamako gained independence. The decision is contained in the West African country’s new constitution, adopted on Saturday.
On Friday, Bamako’s constitutional court validated the final results of a June referendum on a draft constitution, saying that it received 96.91% approval from voters.
French will serve as the primary working language, while the 13 national languages spoken within the country will be formally recognized as official languages. An additional 70 local languages, including Bambara, Bobo, Dogon, and Minianka, some of which were granted national language status through a decree in 1982, will be retained.
Mali has been ruled by a military junta since two coups in August 2020 and May 2021, following a decade of political instability marked by jihadist insurgencies.
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 announced on Saturday that the implementation of the constitutional framework signals the beginning of the Fourth Republic in the former French colony.
Relations between Paris and Bamako have deteriorated in recent years, as anti-French sentiment has grown across France’s former West African colonies as a result of claims of military failures against jihadists and political interference.
France withdrew its last troops from Mali in August, ending a nine-year military operation in the country to fight armed groups.
Late last year, the military government ordered all NGOs, including aid groups funded by France, to cease operations in the country. The action was taken in reaction to Paris’ decision to halt development aid to Bamako over alleged concerns about Mali’s cooperation with the Wagner Russian private military company.
