KISWAHILI BECOMES AFRICAN UNION’S WORKING LANGUAGE

Thu 10 February 2022:

Swahili has been officially adopted as an official working language by the Africa Union, which has 55 member states.

Tanzanian Vice President Philip Mpango requested the approval, arguing that over 100 million people in Africa speak Swahili, making it one of the most widely spoken languages on the African continent.

“Kiswahili (another name for Swahili) is already in use in various communities including the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as well as a teaching language in many African countries,” Mpango said, adding it is a language commonly spoken in the EAC.

The statement was made at the African Union’s Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

African authorities have pushed for the adoption of Swahili as the Pan African language for a long time.

World Kiswahili Language Day was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on July 7.

Swahili speakers can be found in over 14 countries, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Comoros, and even Oman and Yemen in the Middle East, according to the United Nations.

South Africa and Botswana have implemented it in schools, while Namibia and other Southern African countries are considering it.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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