In a monumental language shift, Mali has decided to relinquish French as the country’s official language, a title it has held since the nation gained independence in 1960.
The new constitution, which was robustly backed with a 96.91% approval in a June 18 referendum, will now assign French as a working language. Additionally, it confers official language status to the 13 national languages extensively spoken in the country.
Within the borders of Mali, approximately 70 local languages are used, a handful of which—Bambara, Bobo, Dogon, and Minianka—received national language recognition under a 1982 decree.
This linguistic transformation aligns with the formal implementation of Mali’s new constitution by the country’s military junta leader, Col. Assimi Goita. This initiation heralds the onset of the Fourth Republic in this West African nation, as reported by the presidency.
Ever since assuming power in the wake of the August 2020 coup, Mali’s military leadership has consistently asserted the importance of the new constitution in the nation’s reconstruction efforts.
Mali has endured two successive coups in the recent past—one in August 2020, followed by another in May 2021.
Initially, the military junta had promised to conduct elections in February 2022. However, this has been subsequently pushed back to February 2024.
Mali’s decision to minimise the role of French and uplift national languages coincides with a growing wave of anti-France sentiment across West Africa, largely spurred by perceived military and political interventions from France.
Image Credit: aboodi vesakaran on Unsplash
