Gabon Did Not Withdraw From the Francophonie
The Claim
Gabon withdraws from the Francophonie and joins the English-speaking Commonwealth.
News posted on
Emerging story
On the sidelines of the current rift among French and some countries in North Africa, especially Morocco and Algeria, posts are doing rounds on social media. Some websites claim that Gabon has decided to withdraw from the Francophonie and join the English-speaking Commonwealth.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the claim and found that it was misleading. Trustworthy news sources did not reveal any reports saying that Gabon’s withdrawal from the Francophonie favored joining the Commonwealth.
Furthermore, Gabon’s officials did not mention anything related to the circulating allegations. Ali Bongo expressed his desire to join the Commonwealth, keeping Gabon’s membership on the Francophonie on Twitter on June 23, 2021.
In addition, when we scanned the Francophonie website, we found that Gabon was still on the list of the occupied countries and members of the organization.
Gabon’s president paid a visit to the United Kingdom last May. The UK government's statement has never said anything about Gabon and the Commonwealth.
Gabon 24 reported on May 21 that UK Prime minister, Boris Johnson, congratulated ‘congratulated Ali Bongo Bongo Ondimba for this application.
So, we can make sure that Gabon did not and won’t leave Francophonie. The misinformation circulating in North Africa is mixing accurate information with the wrong ones.
