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during the Addis Ababa summit in 1987. It is to be noted here, that OAU/BIL
is in fact the precursor of ACALAN’s work and approach to the development of
African languages, particularly the focus on vehicular cross-border languages
as a pragmatic strategy for Africa’s development and integration.
The Language Plan of Action for Africa defines priorities and a programme
of action the African Union Member States should undertake in their efforts
to develop, promote and use African languages in all domains of society. Its
main objectives are as follows: 27
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• To encourage each and every Member State to have a clearly defined
language policy;
• To ensure that all languages within the boundaries of Member States
are recognised and accepted as a source of mutual enrichment;
• To liberate the African peoples from undue reliance on the utilisation
of non-indigenous languages as the dominant, official languages of the
state in favour of the gradual take-over of appropriate and carefully
selected indigenous African languages in this domain;
• To ensure that African languages, by appropriate legal provision and
practical promotion, assume their rightful role as the means of official
communication in the public affairs of each Member State, in replacement
of European languages, which have hitherto played this role;
• To encourage the increased use of African languages as vehicles of
instruction at all educational levels;
• To ensure that all the sectors of the political and socio-economic
systems of each Member State is mobilised in such a manner that
they play their due part in ensuring that the African language(s)
prescribed as official language(s) assume their intended role in the
shortest time possible;
• To foster and promote national, regional and continental linguistic
unity in Africa, in the context of the multilingualism prevailing in
most African countries.
The Language Plan of Action for Africa addresses some of the challenges
described above, which need to be addressed so that African languages
attain a significant position in cyberspace. First and foremost, the need for
the member states to define clear language policies. There is also a list of
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The Language Plan of Action for Africa, Council of Ministers , Forth –Sixth Ordinary Session, 20-25 July
1987, Res. 1123 (XLVI), Organization of the African Unity, General Secretariat, Addis Ababa, Pages 2-3.