Harare — Mali dropped French as its official language, more than 60 years after Bamako declared independence. The decision was made under the new constitution, which was approved on Saturday, July 22, according to RT.

The final results of the June referendum on the draft Constitution were upheld by Bamako's constitutional court, garnering 96.91% of the vote. The 13 national languages spoken in the nation will be formally recognized as official languages, with French serving as the principal working language. 70 additional local languages, some of which received national language recognition by decree in 1982, will also be preserved, among them Bambara, Bobo, Dogon, and Minianka.

The Fourth Republic in Mali officially began on Saturday, July 22, when military junta head Col. Assimi Goita put the nation's new Constitution into effect.

Since seizing control in a coup in August 2020, Mali's military insists that the Constitution is essential to the nation's reconstruction. Mali witnessed two subsequent coups, one in August 2020 and the other in May 2021. The junta initially pledged elections in February 2022, but eventually pushed them back to February 2024.

The  country's decision to abandon French comes as anti-France sentiments in West Africa are rising as a result of perceived French political and military meddling. Since the Mali military junta's coups, relations between Paris and the West African nation's military rulers are worsening.