16 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have agreed to adopt Kiswahili as a formal language in the region.

Speaking at during the opening of the SADC 39th heads of summit in Tanzanian at Julius Nyerere International Center, President John Magufuli said their is need for African countries to prioritize the agenda.

"I am appealing to your excellencies to fast track the adoption of Kiswahili to be among the four official languages in SADC.

Swahili will be the first indigenous language to be used by the bloc as an official language at inter-state level. If implemented the Swahili will become an official languages taking over English, Portuguese.

Kiswahili will be adopted at the level of Council and Summit, first as a language for oral communication, before eventually being adopted for written official communication within SADC. This is according to the Chairperson of the SADC Council, who is also Tanzania’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Prof. Palamagamba Kabudi.

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Kiswahili is an official language of the African Union and the lingua franca in most of east Africa and parts of central and southern Africa.

Header Image Credits: New Era Newspapers.