Mali will use French only as the working language after the adoption of its new constitution and will gradually remove it from all spheres of life in the country, Aliu Tunkara, a member of the Malian parliament, told Sputnik on Tuesday
ST. PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th July, 2023) Mali will use French only as the working language after the adoption of its new constitution and will gradually remove it from all spheres of life in the country, Aliu Tunkara, a member of the Malian parliament, told Sputnik on Tuesday.
Following a referendum in June, the Malian government adopted last week a new constitution that, among other things, demoted French, which had been the country's official language since 1960, to a working language. Meanwhile, 13 national languages spoken in the country received official language status.
"We adopted our own constitution a few days ago. We want to break away from the French system, we want to restore the status of our languages. Yes, French is a working language from now on, but it is only for now. We have serious plans to promote our own languages, we would like to completely remove the French language from all areas and gradually we will do it," Tunkara said.
At the same time, the lawmaker added that his nation was facing severe pressure not only from France, which suspended its assistance to country's development organizations over constitutional changes, but also from other Western states due to unsubstantiated allegations of military cooperation between Mali and Russia.
Mali, along with many other African countries, gained its independence from the French colonial rule and became a sovereign member of the United Nations in 1960, known as the Year of Africa. Since then, the Malian military authorities have made active efforts to root out colonial influence, including the cultural one, from France.
