Somalia embraces Swahili to strengthen East African Community ties

President Mohamud says adopting Swahili ‘important for our integration into the region’.

Somalia volition statesman preparations to boost teaching of the Swahili connection successful schools and universities, its president says.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made the announcement connected Tuesday astatine an East African Community (EAC) summit, saying Swahili would beryllium taught alongside the country’s authoritative languages, Somali and Arabic, arsenic good arsenic English.

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The determination reflects Somalia’s deeper integration with the eight-member determination bloc, which uses Swahili arsenic an authoritative language.

“Somalia wears galore antithetic hats,” Mohamud said astatine the acme successful the Somali capital, Mogadishu. He explained that Somalia adopted Arabic erstwhile it joined the Arab League successful 1974, teaches languages specified arsenic English and would present present Swahili aft its rank successful the East African Community (EAC).

“The country’s universities, particularly the Somali National University, should absorption much connected processing the Swahili language, which is the connection of East Africa,” Mohamud said. “Adopting Swahili is important for our integration into the region.”

Somalia joined the EAC successful aboriginal 2024, entering a determination bloc of 300 cardinal radical that promotes commercialized and allows state of question crossed subordinate states stretching from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Kenya.

Swahili is 1 of Africa’s astir wide spoken languages, and it has 200 cardinal speakers globally.

Somalia, erstwhile a British and Italian colony, retained traces of some languages successful the 20th period though Italian aboriginal declined arsenic Arabic gained crushed done migration to Arab countries and Somalia’s rank successful the Arab League.

English has agelong been taught astatine the higher levels of Somalia’s acquisition strategy and is wide spoken by Somalis who prosecute broader employment opportunities, some wrong the state and overseas.

While galore Somalis successful Kenya and Tanzania already talk Swahili, its designation marks the language’s archetypal authoritative adoption wrong Somalia itself.

Daud Aweis, Somalia’s accusation minister, said successful a station connected X: “Swahili connection & traditions are not caller to Somalia; Radio Mogadishu antecedently featured a Swahili section, & galore Somalis talk Swahili fluently.”

Somalia’s acquisition minister, Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir, said: “We privation to spot Swahili go a connection of communication, commercialized and learning – adjacent replacing English during our adjacent conference.”