Mali has removed French as its official language, six decades after independence after an overwhelming 96.91 percent voted at a referendum to enable changes to the country’s language structure.
In the country’s now-revised constitution, French has been Mali’s official language since 1960.
Under the amended 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. 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 amended constitution into effect. This marked 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 will be critical to rebuilding the country.
Mali witnessed two coups in recent years, in August 2020 and May 2021. The junta initially promised elections in February 2022 but delayed them until February 2024.
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 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.
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The action was taken in reaction to Paris’ decision to halt development aid to Bamako. This was over alleged concerns about Mali’s cooperation with the Wagner Russian private military company.
