Swahili Can Unite Africa, Uganda’s President Museveni Says

 

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni is calling on Africans to speak Swahili as the language will aid in unifying the continent.

In a speech on African Integration Day, which marks progress in bringing the continent together, the long-serving Ugandan leader described Swahili as a “neutral language to unite us, it is non-ethnic, belongs to nobody”.

During the speech he lamented that Africans were not more unified.

“It is easier for Africans to unite than the Europeans, but we are not taking that direction surprisingly,” he said in a tweet summarising his comments.

As a non-European language, Swahili has often been spoken about as an alternative to English, French or Portuguese as a means for cross-continental communication. But the idea has been slow to become reality.