On Tuesday, October 22, Marie-Christine Saragosse, CEO of France Médias Monde, inaugurated RFI's new offices in Mandenkan and Fulfulde in Dakar.
After several months of construction, the brand-new offices and studios of Radio France Internationale's Mandinka and Fulfulde editorial teams were officially inaugurated on Tuesday. For Marie-Christine Saragosse, CEO of France Médias Monde, this is a strategic commitment.
"It is the physical embodiment of a strategy of proximity. Languages are never neutral, they are cultures, and I think it's important to speak these two languages, which don't always communicate with each other in the Sahel region," says Marie-Christine Saragosse. "Because we have an important professional role as independent journalists who verify facts, balance points of view, and cultivate debate."
RFI in Mandinka and Fulfulde provides international and African news, broadcast on FM and via a network of partner radio stations.
Senegalese Minister of Culture and Communication Abdoulaye Diop welcomes this unifying project: "We have seen the importance of language in bringing people together, and today it is important that RFI, which is a privileged partner, comes to set up and broadcast in Mandinka and Fulfulde. When we see the cross-cutting nature of these different languages, let's take a unifying approach so that we can work together."
Getting closer to listeners
With the opening of these editorial offices in Dakar, RFI is getting closer to its listeners and offering them—as it does in French—high-quality regional and international news. "We have a broad focus on international news. For most listeners, this is what interests them most, because they have local news, but also African news in particular, security issues, and political issues," explains journalist Baba Maïga, originally from Mali, who has been part of the editorial team since its inception.
Until now, RFI's Mandenkan team has been working from Paris, with a network of correspondents. The move to Dakar will give it a new dimension, according to Frédéric Garat, coordinator of the Mandenkan and Fulfulde editorial teams: "It's very important that we are as close as possible to our listeners geographically. For Mandinka, that's at least 40 million listeners, and for Fulfulde, Pular, and Peul, there are 40 to 45 million listeners who potentially speak these languages, which is why we are going to them."
RFI offers two Fulfulde-language magazines every weekend, entitled "Alors on dit quoi ?" (So what do we say?). The target audience is young people, explains journalist Aïssatou Ly: "We used to have programs broadcast in French or other languages. Doing it in one language, Fulfulde, is above all about providing accurate information, because there is so much fake news." Recent programs have covered topics such as girls' education, breast cancer, and "young people and marriage."
France Médias Monde CEO Marie-Christine Saragosse suggests that the magazine may also be available in Wolof, one of Senegal's national languages, in the future.
Press release