Central Africa - Centrafrique - Bêafrîka (CF)

Central African Republic - République centrafricaine -
Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka

1. Language information / Données sur les langues

1.1 Languages spoken / Langues parlées

a) Official / Officielle(s) :

Sango and French, as stipulated in the constitution (Aménagement linguistique)

b) National, indigenous / Nationale(s), indigène(s) :

Other major languages include Gbaya.

Ethnologue list 69 maternal languages of CAR at http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=CF

c) Relevant pages in the Major Languages section of this report / Pages appropriées dans la section de ce rapport sur les Langues principales :

Sango, Gbaya, Lingala, Zande, Sara

1.2 Language policy / Politique de langue

a) Laws/legislation / Lois/législation :

The site L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde has a page on Central Africa at http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/centrafrique.htm

b) Agencies / Agences :

Institut de Linguistique Appliquée (ILA), "rattaché à l'Université de Bangui ... regroupe une quinzaine de chercheurs. Les recherches de l'institut portent sur les thèmes suivants: Sociolinguistique ; Description linguistique ; Terminologie ; Aménagement linguistique ; Alphabétisation ; Applications pédagogiques ; Développement du sängö" ( http://www.osil.ch/gtf-rifal/bangui/index.html )

Three institutions "involved in or responsible for African Language research" in CAR (UNESCO 1985). Updated information is needed:

• Commission nationale pour l'étude de la langue sango - BANGUI
• Institut pédagogique national - B.P. 921 - BANGUI Faculté des Lettres
• Université de Bangui B.P. 450 - BANGUI

c) Languages in education/literacy / Langues dans l'éducation/l'alphabétisation :

UNDP (2006) gives a literacy figure (without reference to which language[s]) of: 48.6%

1.3 Writing in national/indigenous languages / Ecriture en langues nationales/indigènes

a) Orthographies / Orthographes :

National languages are written in the Latin alphabet with some diacritics and additional modified letters (extended characters). A chart showing the extended Latin characters and diacritics used in some Central African languages is available at: http://www.bisharat.net/A12N/CAR-table.htm

The orthography for Sango was fixed in 1984 in CAR (see the page on Sango).

b) Print publications / Editions imprimées :

UNESCO (1985) reported the following periodical (name, frequency of publication, circulation, language). Updated information is needed:

• Linga, fortnightly, 1,500, Sango

1.4 Other comments / Autre commentaire

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2. ICT situation / Situation des TIC

2.1 Infrastructure / Infrastructure

a) Telephones / Téléphones :

• Fixed lines:
  • Telephone mainlines: 2 per 1000 people (APC)
  • Telephones - main lines in use: 10,000 (2004) (CIA)
• Mobile subscriptions:
  • 13,000 (0.3 per 100 people) (ITU 2004 cited in Vodafone 2005)
  • Telephones - mobile cellular: 60,000 (2004) (CIA)
  • GSM companies & coverage : http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_cf.shtml

b) Radio stations / Stations de radio :

Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 5, shortwave 1 (2002) (CIA)

c) Connectivity / Connectivité :

• International internet bandwidth / Bande passante internationale d'internet :
• ISPs / FSI : 1 SOCATEL http://www.socatel.cf/ (Wikipedia)
• Internet hosts on .cf domain: 13 (ISC)
• Geographic coverage / Couverture géographique :

2.2 Computer & internet access / Accès aux ordinateurs et à l'internet

a) Computers & points of access / Ordinateurs et lieux d'accès :

• Number of computers / Nombre d'ordinateurs: 1.9 per 1000 people (APC)
• Cybercafés / Cybercafés:
• Project telecentres / Télécentres de projets:
  • The ADEN project has set up 5 telecentres in CAR: Bambari "Ouaka"; Bangassou; Berberati; Bouar; Mbaïki "Wambangana" http://www.africaden.net/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=10
  • ITU was planning on setting up some télécentres communautaires polyvalents (TCP) in CAR

b) Internet / Internet :

• Dial-up subscribers / Abonnés par ligne téléphonique :
• Internet users / Utilisateurs de l'internet : 9,000 Internet users as of Sept/05, 0.3% of the population, per ITU (Internet World Stats)

c) Other / Autre :

• Digital Opportunity Index (DOI): 0.11 (ITU 2006)

2.3 ICT policy / Politique de TIC

Information on CAR's NICI (National Information and Communications Infrastructure) policy process is available at:

• NICI country page http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nici/Central_African_Republic/central_afr_rep.htm
• NICI policy http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nici/country_profiles/car/carpol.htm
• NICI country profile/background (not recently updated; has links to other NICI pages) http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nici/country_profiles/car/carab.htm

The APC page, "ICT Policy in Central African Republic" has some information and links:

• In English: http://rights.apc.org/africa/index.shtml?apc=s21855e_1
• En français: http://afrique.droits.apc.org/index.shtml?apc=s21855e_1

2.4 ICT4D/E & ICT training / TIC pour le développement/éducation, et formation en TIC

WikiEducator has has information on ICT for education in CAR at http://www.wikieducator.org/ICT4Africa/Country_Report_Central_African_Republic

2.5 Resources / Ressources

Institutions:

• Institut Africain d'Informatique (IAI), Cameroon (also serves CAR)

People:

• Dr. Marcel Diki-Kidiri, CNRS

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3. Localisation situation / Situation de localisation

3.1 Country web content / Contenu web du pays

3.2 Web content in indigenous languages / Contenu web en langues indigènes

Sango - http://sango.free.fr

(See also specific language pages.)

3.3 Software localisation / Localisation de logiciel

(See also specific language pages.)

3.4 Projects & organisations / Projets et organisations

3.5 Localisation policy / Politique de localisation

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4. References / Références

APC, "ICT Policy in Central African Republic," Africa ICT Policy Monitor, http://rights.apc.org/africa/index.shtml?apc=s21855e_1 ("Politiques de TIC en/au République Centre Africaine," Observatoire des politiques des TIC en Afrique, http://afrique.droits.apc.org/index.shtml?apc=s21855e_1 )

Balancing Act Africa. 2006. African Internet Country Profiles, Part 3, Southern and Central Africa. London: Balancing Act. http://www.balancingact-africa.com/profile3.html

International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 2006. World Information Society Report 2006. Geneva: ITU. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/worldinformationsociety/2006/wisr-web.pdf

______. 2005. "ITU Launches Multipurpose Community Telecentre Initiative in Africa." (Press release 10 January 2005) http://www.itu.int/newsarchive/press_releases/2005/02.html ("L'UIT lance un projet de télécentres communautaires polyvalents en Afrique" http://www.itu.int/newsarchive/press_releases/2005/02-fr.html )

______. 2004. African Telecommunication Indicators 2004. Geneva: ITU.

Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), "Distribution of Top-Level Domain Names by Host Country, Jan 2007" http://www.isc.org/index.pl?/ops/ds/

Internet World Stats: Africa. 2006. http://internetworldstats.com/africa.htm

Leclerc, Jacques. L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde, "République centrafricaine," http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/centrafrique.htm

SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Languages of Central African Republic," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=CF

UNDP. 2006. ''Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. Human Development Report 2006.'' New York: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). [Human development index Adult literacy rate (% ages 15 and older) (HDI) http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/3.html ]

UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa. 1985. African Community Languages and Their Use in Literacy and Education: A Regional Survey. Dakar: UNESCO.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), "The World Factbook: Central African Republic," https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ct.html

Vodafone. 2005. "Africa: The Impact of Mobile Phones." The Vodafone Policy Paper Series, Number 3, March 2005. http://www.vodafone.com/assets/files/en/GPP%20SIM%20paper.pdf

WikiEducator, "ICT4Africa/Country Report Central African Republic," http://www.wikieducator.org/ICT4Africa/Country_Report_Central_African_Republic

Wikipedia, "Central African Republic," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Republic

______, "Communications in the Central African Republic," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_in_the_Central_African_Republic

______, "République centrafricaine," http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/République_centrafricaine

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