Burkina Faso elevates indigenous languages to official status, drops French

This means that national languages like Mooré or Mossi and Dioula which are spoken by the majority of Burkina Faso citizens, will take over French as the official language in the country.

The Bill which was adopted by the council of ministers on December 6 during a weekly ministerial session revises the Constitution and makes French a working language, APA News reported.

With this new direction, all official documents and businesses do not need to be written in French and local languages can be used officially in any public administration capacity.

The country’s over 66 local languages will now come into play as the official language.

This forms part of efforts by the military junta that took over power in 2022 headed by Captain Ibrahim Traoré to redeem the country from what it says is French rule and promote the sovereignty of Burkina Faso as an independent country.

Burkina Faso has made several efforts, since the military takeover in January 2022 to move away from France.

In August, a double taxation agreement with France was renounced by authorities in Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso has also terminated military agreements and sent back French troops.

The move by Burkina Faso follows a similar one by Mali in July 2023. With its new constitution, Mali 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 was abandoned as the official language.

French is now Mali’s working language while the 13 national languages spoken in the country have received official language status.