The summit of the Francophonie which gathers most of the world’s French-speaking countries kicks off on Friday in France, a first in 33 years. The organization (OIF) gathers 54 members amongst which 29 are African.

For two days, delegations from around the world will be hosted in Villers-Cotterêts, (France).

French is one of the 5 most used languages in the world. According to the OIF, over 321 million people speak it. If the number of speakers continues to rise in the world, teaching of French is declining.

Most member of the Francophonie are African states. This comes at a time when France’s so-called special ties with Africa is put to the test. Countries in the Sahel have shown will to exert more of their sovereignty and notably relegated French to a status of “working language”.