Somalia will begin preparations to boost teaching of the Swahili language in schools and universities, its president says.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud made the announcement on Tuesday at an East African Community (EAC) summit, saying Swahili would be taught alongside the country’s official languages, Somali and Arabic, as well as English.

The move reflects Somalia’s deeper integration with the eight-member regional bloc, which uses Swahili as an official language.

“Somalia wears many different hats,” Mohamud said at the summit in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. He explained that Somalia adopted Arabic when it joined the Arab League in 1974, teaches languages such as English and would now introduce Swahili after its membership in the East African Community (EAC).

“The country’s unive

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