It is the second time that the Games have been moved back. 

They had originally been awarded to the Canadian cities of Moncton and Dieppe in New Brunswick, but were switched to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo for 2021.

They were initially postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and had been rescheduled to take place between August 19and 28 this year. 

"In accordance with the recommendations of the Orientation Council of the International Committee of the Games of La Francophonie, the Permanent Council of La Francophonie has come out in favour of the postponement for one year of the IX Games of the Francophonie which will be held in Kinshasa in 2023 on a date yet to be specified with regard to the international sports agenda," a statement said. 

So far, no new date has yet been fixed.

Organisation of the Games, first staged in 1989 and which involves 4,000 athletes from 49 countries, has been hit by delays and problems in paying contractors.

"It's not a bad decision," Games Director Isidore Kwandja Ngembo told Radio France International.

"The wrong decision would have been for the Games to be cancelled.

"But the fact that we have been postponed gives us the opportunity to work calmly, to do things correctly and to organise grandiose Games."

The Congolese Government is said to have ploughed €26 million (£22 million/$30 million) into staging the Francophone Games.

Meanwhile, the International Francophone Organisation (OIF) have also banned Burkina Faso from the Games after a military coup last month deposed the President.

"The Committee demands the immediate and unconditional release of President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré," an OIF statement said.