DHAKA, Feb 21, 2025 (BSS) – Fact-checking body Rumor Scanner has called incorrect the claim that Bengali is the second official, official or state language of West African nation Sierra Leone.
 
“The claim that Bengali is the second official, official or state language of West African nation Sierra Leone is not correct as the language was never considered as a second state language in Sierra Leone,” it said in a report published on its website on Thursday,
 
The fact checking watchdog said the cultural heritage of Sierra Leone which covers an area of about 71,740 square kilometers, is quite diverse.
 
The country, which gained independence from the British in 1961, is currently home to about 18 ethnic groups.
 
A civil war began in the country in 1991. When West African countries failed to resolve the problems of Sierra Leone, the United Nations took over the responsibility of establishing peace in the country in 1999.
 
Several other countries, including Bangladesh, joined the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone. In 2002, the country's then President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah ended the civil war. Strong relations were established between Bangladesh and Sierra Leone based on the UN peacekeeping mission.
 
Since 2002, almost every February, information has come to light involving the Bengali language and Sierra Leone. It is claimed that Bengali is the second official language or one of the official languages or official language of Sierra Leone.
 
This claim is so strong that the Rumor Scanner team has seen this claim being circulated in mainstream media, various media websites, school textbooks, and even in the Bangladesh Civil Service or BCS question papers.
 
In the ninth chapter (page 133) on ‘United Nations and Bangladesh’ of the ninth-tenth grade ‘Bangladesh and World Introduction’ textbook, Bengali is mentioned as the second official language of Sierra Leone.
 
Fact Check
 
A long investigation by the Rumor Scanner team revealed that Bengali is not the second official, official or state language of Sierra Leone; rather, English is the only official language of the country. Several other languages, including Krio, Limba, Mende, and Teme, are spoken in Sierra Leone, of which Krio is the most common language.
 
Considering the prevalence of the discussed claim, the Rumor Scanner team has worked on the issue for a long time. More than fifty domestic and foreign research reports have been analyzed.
 
An attempt has been made to find the source of this claim in the media. The team spoke to several individuals and organizations in Bangladesh and Sierra Leone on this issue. Our investigation began by finding the original source of the claim.

How did the claim in question originate?
 
While searching for the source of this claim, the team found a report published on the website of the Bengali version of the American media outlet 'Voice of America' on December 27, 2002. The report stated, "The government of Sierra Leone has declared Bengali as an official language along with the other official languages of the country. On December 12, the country's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah announced this decision while inaugurating a 54-kilometer-long reconstructed road. This road was reconstructed by the Engineers Corps of the Bangladesh Army with the assistance of the United Nations."
 
Almost the same information is available in a report in the English newspaper The Telegraph, based in Kolkata, India.
 
The report, published on December 29, 2002, quoted the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), as saying, “Sierra Leone has declared Bangla as an official language in recognition of the contribution of Bangladeshi peacekeepers to the country. Sierra Leone President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah made the announcement while inaugurating a 54-kilometer-long road built by Bangladeshi peacekeepers in the West African country.”
 
The same information was published by the Daily Times, an English-language newspaper in Pakistan, on December 29, 2002, as quoted by AFP.
 
Based on the above date, the Rumor Scanner team found news stories in domestic newspapers in 2002 from the Sangram Notebook website, an online archive of old Bangladeshi newspapers.
 
Four Bangladeshi newspapers, Ittefaq, Prothom Alo, The Daily Star and Janakantho, published reports on this on December 28 of that year.
 
The reports said, “The government of Sierra Leone has recognized Bengali as an official language like the other official languages of the country.”
 
The following year (2003), on 3 January, the English daily The Daily Star, citing national news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), reported a statement by the then Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan.
 
His statement went like this, “Bangladesh soldiers deployed in the UN peacekeeping mission have built a new road connecting three provinces of Sierra Leone. In addition, the newly elected government of Sierra Leone has included Bengali as an official language of the country.”
 
However, Rumor Scanner has also seen a slightly modified version of this claim. According to a report published on the geography educational website World Atlas about the language of Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone has declared Bengali as its official language.
 
This decision was taken in recognition of the contribution of Bangladeshi peacekeepers in the country's civil war. Bangladeshi peacekeepers served as one of the largest contingents under the UN mission in the ongoing civil war (in Sierra Leone) from 1991 to 2002 and played a key role in the conflict against the rebels.
 
However, the residents of Sierra Leone do not use this language, as it is only an honorary or honorable status for the Bengali language.
 
Similar information has also been found in an article on the website of the Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce, an organization for trade and commerce of Commonwealth countries.
 
This article about Sierra Leone states that in December of that year, Bengali was declared an ‘honorary official language’ of Sierra Leone due to the efforts and contributions of Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers in the 2002 civil war.
 
During a search, the rumor scanner found a statement made by the Sierra Leonean Ambassador to South Korea on the occasion of International Mother Language Day, February 21, 2023, on the official website of the Sierra Leonean Embassy in South Korea. Towards the end of the statement, Ambassador Kaths Zibao Matai said that the former President of Sierra Leone, the late Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, had declared Bengali as an honorary language of Sierra Leone in 2002.
 
That is, in 2002, in recognition of the contributions of Bangladeshi peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, the then President of the country, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, made a declaration focusing on the Bengali language. There are differences of opinion among various sources regarding this declaration. According to some sources, President Kabbah has declared Bengali as the official language of Sierra Leone. On the other hand, some sources claim that Bengali was declared an honorary language of Sierra Leone.

What is known about the language of Sierra Leone?
 
An article published on the official website of the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs of Sierra Leone discusses the linguistic diversity of the country, citing various sources, saying that 16 to 20 ethnic groups live in Sierra Leone, of which the ‘Temene’ and ‘Mende’ ethnic groups are the largest and about 60 percent of the total population is occupied by these two ethnic groups. Each ethnic group in the country speaks its own language. Of these, the Mende, Temene, and Krio languages are more common. English is used as the official language in schools and government work. Children in Sierra Leone usually grow up learning four different languages – the language of their parents’ ethnic group, the language of their neighbors, Krio, and English.
 
Detailed information about Sierra Leone is available in the annual publication 'The World Factbook' published by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on the geographical, political, economic, demographic and social information of almost all countries and regions of the world. The book's discussion on Sierra Leone tells us about the language of the country, the official language of the country is English. However, although it is the official language, its regular use is limited to the educated minority. Mende is the main spoken language in the south and Teme in the north. Krio is the lingua franca or common language of communication in the country. Although Krio is the main language of only 10 percent of the country's people, 95 percent of the people can understand it.
 
From the trusted English encyclopedia Britannica, it is known about the language of Sierra Leone, Krio, a language derived from English and various African languages, is the lingua franca or universal language of Sierra Leone. The Mande languages are the largest of the Niger-Congo language groups, which include Mende, Kuranko, Kono, etc. The Mele group includes Teme, Kisi, Limba, etc. English is the official language of the country, used in administration, education, and trade. Arabic is used by Lebanese businessmen and followers of Islam. School textbooks, information bulletins, and folklore collections are published in Mende and Teme.
 
A paper on language politics in Sierra Leone was published in 2020 in the African Journal of Political Science and International Relations by Mnisha Gelman, associate professor of political science at Emerson College. Mr. Gelman notes in his research that since independence from Britain in 1961, Krio, a type of creole (a complete language derived from a mixture of two or more languages), has evolved from the mother tongue of a small ethnic minority to the lingua franca, or universal means of communication, in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. Since colonial times, English has been the dominant language among the elite of Sierra Leone and the sole official language of government. In addition, many other languages are spoken in different communities and contexts in Sierra Leone.
 
A research paper on the national language of Sierra Leone can be found by researcher Joko Sengova, entitled ‘The national languages of Sierra Leone: a decade of policy experimentation’. The research article was published in 1987 in the 57th volume of the Journal of Africa, issue 4.
 
This research article was published by Cambridge University Press in 2011, courtesy of the International African Institute. This research article shows that Sierra Leone is a good example of a multilingual country. There are about 16 languages in Sierra Leone. Krio, Limba, Mende and Teme – these four languages are of particular importance in the country, and these languages are widely used in the media. However, these languages are used to a limited extent in the field of education and literacy. English is known as the official language of Sierra Leone. The language is used in education, government and administrative work, the judiciary, the media, international communication, etc. It is recognized as the language of official work.
 
In a 2019 study on whether English can serve as Sierra Leone's national language, Professor Momodu Toure of the Department of English at the University of Sierra Leone wrote that the country's national radio and television broadcaster, the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBS), initially broadcasts in English and later in four languages: Mende, Teme, Limba, and Krio.
 
An article about the languages of Sierra Leone is available on the website of Translators Without Borders, a non-profit organization that works on languages. The article, compiled according to the 2004 census, shows that there are 18 major languages in the country. Of these, Krio is the main language. About 97% of the population can understand and speak Krio. Mende and Teme are the other two major languages. However, English is the official language of the country, used in education, government administration, and the media.
 
From the above sources, it is clear that Sierra Leone is a multilingual country. The country's only official or official language is English, but the regular use of English is mainly limited to the educated few. Considering the linguistic diversity and socio-political situation of this country, the widespread practice of languages such as Krio, English, Mende, Teme, etc. can be observed. On the other hand, no significant information was found in the aforementioned sources about the use or prevalence of the Bengali language in Sierra Leone.

What is known upon further investigation into the discussed claim
 
In March last year (2023), Rumor Scanner contacted the West Africa-based fact-checking organization Dubawa to find out about the recognition or homogeneity claims of the Bengali language in Sierra Leone.
 
The organization's fact-checker, Faiya Junior Moser, told Rumor Scanner that English is the only official language in Sierra Leone. Although various languages are prevalent in the country, they have not received official status. He was surprised to hear the claims prevalent in Bangladesh about the Bengali language and Sierra Leone, because he had not seen any prevalence of the Bengali language in Sierra Leone.
 
At one point in our conversation with Faiya Junior Moser, we wanted to know if there was any organization working on languages in Sierra Leone. Moser told us that the Institute for Sierra Leonean Languages (TISLL) is a non-governmental organization working on languages in Freetown. He contacted the program director of this organization, Lamine Henry Kargbo.
 
In this regard, Lamine Henry Kargbo said that Bengali has never been used or declared as the official language of Sierra Leone. In response to the question whether the country's late former president, Ahmad Tejon Kabbah, declared Bengali as the official language of Sierra Leone, Kargbo said, "As far as I know, the late former president only mentioned that Bengali would be considered or included among the languages of Sierra Leone, but not as an official language."

As the reason for this, he said, the late former president made such a remark in recognition of the contribution and support of the government and people of Bangladesh during the civil war in Sierra Leone.
 
He further said that Bengali language has never been declared as the official language of Sierra Leone, although the late President Kabbah said in many of his speeches after the war, Bengali language was considered or included in the list of languages of Sierra Leone. However, the citizens of Sierra Leone have not recognized Bengali as a language, nor it is spoken in any part of Sierra Leone.
 
Kargbo further clarified that only English is the official language in Sierra Leone and the rest of the languages are used for informal communication in homes, mosques, churches, villages, etc.
  
On the same issue, Dubawa contacted Sia Tengbe, who has been a teacher in Sierra Leone for 25 years. Sia Tengbe said that in his entire teaching career, he has never heard any announcement by any President or government authority of Sierra Leone to change the official language of the country. According to him, English has always remained the official language in Sierra Leone.
 
Dubawa later published a fact-check report on this issue in March last year. The report stated that Bangla has never been used as the official language of Sierra Leone. While investigating, we found a Bangladeshi psychologist named Md. Akbar Hossain.
 
He stayed in Sierra Leone for a year for professional reasons. In a report written by him published on an online portal called 'NewsG24' on March 19, 2023, he shared his experience of living in Sierra Leone. In the report, he mentioned that the claim that Bangla is the second official language of Sierra Leone, which has been circulating for a long time, is false.
 
He urged the next generation to refrain from teaching such false information.

The Rumor Scanner also contacted Akbar Hossain. He shared a video with it on his YouTube channel ‘Sound of Silence’ on December 30, 2022. In this video, Akbar Hossain interviewed people from different professions in Sierra Leone. In the interview, he asked about the contribution of Bangladeshi peacekeepers in the Sierra Leone civil war.
 
In response, the locals were very appreciative of Bangladesh and its peacekeepers. He also asked about the language of Sierra Leone, then almost everyone said that the two main languages of Sierra Leone are English and Krio. Most people said that they were not aware of the Bengali language.
 
Basically, in 2002, in recognition of the contribution of Bangladeshi peacekeepers in Sierra Leone, the then former President of the country, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, made an announcement focusing on the Bengali language.
 
There are differences of opinion among various sources about this announcement. According to some sources, President Kabbah has declared Bengali as the official language of Sierra Leone. According to other sources, Bengali was declared as the honorary language of the country.
 
However, a long investigation by Rumor Scanner revealed that the only official language of Sierra Leone is English. But the regular use of English is limited to a small number of educated people. Considering the linguistic diversity and socio-political situation of the country, languages such as Krio, Mende, Teme, etc. are widely practiced.
 
There are at least 18 languages in the country. However, Krio is the universal language of the country. At least 95 percent of the people can understand it. A long investigation by Rumor Scanner did not find the introduction of Bengali language in the country. In this regard, Lamine Henry Kargbo, Program Director of The Institute for Sierra Leonean Languages(TISL), a non-governmental organization working on languages in the country, said that Bengali language has never been declared as the official language of Sierra Leone.
 
The late former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah only mentioned the consideration or inclusion of Bengali in the list of languages of Sierra Leone, not as an official language. The reason behind this is the recognition of Bangladesh's contribution and assistance during the Sierra Leonean civil war.
 
However, Bengali has never been recognized as an official language by the people or government of Sierra Leone. English is the only official language in Sierra Leone and the rest are used for informal communication.
 
Therefore, according to multiple sources in Sierra Leone, it can be confirmed that the late former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah mentioned the consideration or inclusion of Bengali in the list of languages of the country in 2002 to give it honorary status. However, Bengali was never prevalent as a second state language in Sierra Leone.
 
In other words, the information that has been circulating for a long time claiming that Bengali is the second official, official or state language of Sierra Leone is not correct.