Mali Drops French As Official Language

Mali has removed French as its official language, replacing it with the country’s indigenous languages.

The move came after 96.91% of voters in the recently concluded referendum vote for french to be dropped as the official language.

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.