Mauritania: the status of the French language in Parliament is under debate

Text by: RFI Follow

The Mauritanian Parliament recently implemented an amendment to the rules of procedure of the National Assembly, adopted last July. The translation from French is no longer ensured. Francophone deputies see this as a marginalization of this language. The National Assembly evokes "a technical imperative".

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RFI had written in error that the Mauritanian Parliament prohibited the use of French within the hemicycle. The Mauritanian National Assembly released a statement on Wednesday denying this information. This article is therefore a modified version.

" French has never been subject to any prohibition and some deputies continue to use it, no later than during the last plenary ". In a press release published on its website Wednesday, the Mauritanian National Assembly puts the dots on i.

In July, the rules of procedure of the National Assembly were modified. Article 61 changes the procedures for interpreting languages ​​during parliamentary debates. “ At the request of certain deputies and in accordance with the requirements of our rules of procedure, the interpretation service can no longer provide translation beyond four languages: the three national languages ​​(Pulaar, Soninké and Wolof, editor's note) and the official language, in this case, Arabic ”, continues the press release.

communitarianism

A badly perceived decision, in particular at the negro-African deputies who do not speak Arabic. Especially since during the last parliamentary session, the President of the National Assembly, Cheick ould Baya, did not hide his position with regard to the French language: " If you speak to Mauritanians, you have four languages ​​of expression which are provided for in the Assembly. A speech in French no longer makes sense in the Assembly here. "

Ladji Traoré, a member of the Progressive Popular Alliance, disapproves of the absence of French. " The working language, whether in the private or public sector in Mauritania, remains French, " he says. It is the language of communication with peripheral countries, with the outside world. Consequently, one cannot say to the deputies: "Express yourself in your wolof, pulaar or soninké". In reality, it is to ensure that we are understood only by our communities. It is communitarianism, not politics. "

In its press release, the National Assembly justifies the end of interpreting in French by " a purely technical imperative " and recalls that the introduction of national languages ​​in the hemicycle has always been a request from deputies themselves.

Between 1992 and 2005, the Senate was chaired by a Negro-Mauritanian, Dieng Boubou Farba. Not speaking Arabic, he made his speeches in French and that was never a problem, recalls a former senator.

French still remains a language of communication. The National Assembly cannot decide that to prevent it. If a member wants to speak French, he must be able to do so. Because it is not said that he can speak on certain technical questions in his own language.

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• Mauritania
• French language

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