- Nov 2, 2009
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- independent thoughtist thinker, context linker
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Gambia's president said that he wants to implement a policy change that would shift the country's language from English to a local language.
"We no longer subscribe to the belief that for you to be a government you should speak English language. We should speak our language," President Yahya Jammeh said during the swearing-in ceremony of Gambia's new Chief Justice that aired on state-run Gambia Television Services on Friday.
The announcement comes months after the West African country announced it is withdrawing from the Commonwealth, a collection of 54 nations made up largely of former British colonies, saying it would "never be a member of any neo-colonial institution."
Gambia is at loggerheads with the European Union as the bloc threatens to suspend its aid if the country's human rights situation is not improved.
"What brought the British to the Gambia in the first place_which was bigger than it is now —was trade in ivory because the Gambia had a lot of elephants," he said. "They wiped out all the elephants and ended up selling Africans."
Full Article: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/president-says-gambia-shift-english
"We no longer subscribe to the belief that for you to be a government you should speak English language. We should speak our language," President Yahya Jammeh said during the swearing-in ceremony of Gambia's new Chief Justice that aired on state-run Gambia Television Services on Friday.
The announcement comes months after the West African country announced it is withdrawing from the Commonwealth, a collection of 54 nations made up largely of former British colonies, saying it would "never be a member of any neo-colonial institution."
Gambia is at loggerheads with the European Union as the bloc threatens to suspend its aid if the country's human rights situation is not improved.
"What brought the British to the Gambia in the first place_which was bigger than it is now —was trade in ivory because the Gambia had a lot of elephants," he said. "They wiped out all the elephants and ended up selling Africans."
Full Article: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/president-says-gambia-shift-english