It has been six years since they were last held, when Abidjan in the Ivory Coast hosted the 2017 event.

Back in February, Association of Francophone National Olympic Committees (AFCNO) President Abakar Djermar spoke admiringly of the profile of the Commonwealth Games.

"Today, the gap remains very significant between the Games of La Francophonie and the Commonwealth Games, particularly in terms of partnership, visibility and communication," Djermar said.    

Although Victoria’s decision to renounce the 2026 Commonwealth Games has rather changed the landscape, the success of Birmingham 2022 surely inspired his comments.

The Francophone Games are a relatively new addition to the calendar.

They were not established until 1989 but in the late 1950s there were plans for something similar.

The Government in Paris tried to set up an organisation of French territories similar to the Commonwealth of nations associated with Britain.

By the Cardiff 1958, some 35 nations and territories took part in the Commonwealth Games which were becoming increasingly well established.

It was this event that Paris sought to emulate with a competition called the French Community Games.

This was discussed in 1959 and a budget fixed to make arrangements.

They were due to take place in 1960 in Tananarive, the capital of Madagascar,

A group of 19 nations and territories were invited to compete in a programme comprising of athletics,basketball, boxing, cycling, football, handball, weightlifting and volleyball.

France announced that they would send 105 competitors, the largest of the competing teams.

They also brought with them a key official Maurice Herzog, a noted mountaineer who a decade earlier had been a member of the successful ascent on Annapura, though it cost him all his fingers to frostbite.

Herzog had become France's Minister for Youth and Sport in the Government of President Charles De Gaulle.

He was charged with coordinating arrangements for the Games from the point of view of the French Government.

In all, some 800 paraded in the Opening Ceremony at the Mahamasina Stadium.

"At the moment when the Games open in Tannarive, thoughts turn to the young Africans, Madagascans and French who are going to test themselves there, In this way as with others, they can strengthen the bonds of friendship and trust within the community," De Gaulle said.

Herzog also spoke at the Ceremony.

"The days of one way exchanges are over, the French Government is  now committed to a new path to make sure that things for each country in the 'Communaute' will be easier and more dignified," Herzog told the crowd.

"Sport is part of the character of a nation,this is why the Jeux de la Communaute seem so important to me, they are a question of a single word, friendship."

It was a sentiment echoed by Madagascar's President Philibert Tsiranana .

"Train yourself to appreciate each other, to measure each other without passion," he told competitors. 

"Do not indulge in narrow chauvinism, but face each other with the will to bring honor to your country. 

"May the friendships you make at this stadium be the memories you will take away from these Games."

Madagascar's triple jumper Marc Rabémila took the oath on behalf of all athletes as part of a Ceremony which closely resembled the Olympics.

When competition began, a Madagascan weightlifter called Émile Randrianarisoa delighted spectators with a gold medal.

France dominated most of the team events with victories in football, basketball, handball and volleyball.

The star turn was Senegalese sprinter Abdoulaye Seye who 100 metres gold in 10.30sec.

"This is just a stepping stone to the Olympics, " Seye admitted cheerfully, with refreshing honesty.

When he did compete at Rome 1960, it was in the blue vest of France, but he took the bronze medal in the 200m in a race where Italy’s Livio Berutti broke the world record.

Abebe Bikila's marathon gold for Ethiopia that year cemented awareness of the potential of African athletes, even for those who had previously been unwilling to acknowledge it.

Despite the optimistic messages from officials in Tannanarive, the Games proved the first and last Jeux de Communaute as the organisation effectively ceased to exist.

In the new decade many African nations sought and obtained independence in the years which followed.

In the case of Algeria, considered one of the jewels of the French crown in Africa, the struggle became bitter.

In 1961, Paris saw demonstrations which turned into terrible violence.

Police reacted to a demonstration by Algerians and at least 100 are thought to have died as a result of police action.

There was however a successor to the community Game and it was called Friendship Games.

The new event was held in Abidjan in late 1961.

This time, French speaking African nations were supplemented by two English speaking countries, Nigeria and Liberia.

Amadou Gakou of Senegal won gold in the 400m and in the 4x400m relay.

"They were held in the best Olympic imbued of the rural jovial spirit pervading in the tropics, where everything is of relative importance," declared the Olympic Review.

"The Abidjan Games have certainly contributed to advance the cause of sport in Africa, their objects being to make people realise the valuable boon sport could be for them with regard to improving their social status."

Behind the scenes, Comte Jean de Beaumont, the French International Olympic Committee (IOC) member had been put in charge of a new IOC "commission for aid to new countries", a forerunner of Olympic Solidarity but without the financial backing.

De Beaumont met officials from 21 new countries.

The IOC observed that these "had no Olympic formation, they only have sporting organisations in embryo."

The French sports newspaper L’Equipe also threw its opinions into the mix.

"In the immediate present, it is essential to sponsor the entry of the countries belonging to black Africa within the various International sport organisations," a L’Equipe editorial said.

Ever since the days of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the IOC had adopted a policy of "Olympic geography" all its own.

For example, they recognised a separate team from Finland before the First World War, even though politically they were under Russian control.

In the early 1960s, as nations in Africa strived for political independence,  IOC proudly stated that it had recognised 13 countries from Africa.

It also pointed out that there were four IOC members on the African continent.

There was Reginald Alexander representing Kenya, Ahmed El Demerdash Touny of Egypt, the Moroccan  Hadj Mohammed Benjelloun and Reginald Honey of South Africa.

At this time, the spectre of Apartheid and ethnic discrimination saw South Africa increasingly ostracised, but the other nations were invited to another Games of Friendship to be held in Dakar in 1963.

"Senegal is determined to make an outstanding success of this great sport festival," the Olympic Review observed.

The Senegalese Government made provision for a Parc des Sports to be built with space for 8,000 spectators. 

Construction of a new "Liberty" Stadium was begun, expected to hold some 30,000.

This was inaugurated for the new Games.

IOC President Avery Brundage joined Senegal's President Léopold Senghor for the grand Opening Ceremony.

"The Ceremony was a fairy tale," Michel Legris wrote in Le Monde.

The spectators had been granted free entry and many wore spectacular white robes.

Amongst those observing the scene was Wilma Rudolph, the remarkable American sprinter who had won three gold medals at the Rome Olympics in 100m, 200m and the 4x100m relay.

She had been sent by the United States State Department.

"In our opinion, we think that France has opened the door wide to sport in Africa, the first step encouraging its development has been taken," said the Olympic Review.

The article was not signed but may well have been the work of Olympic Chancellor Otto Mayer, never one to hold back with his opinions.

Herzog was amongst those to call for continental championships to be established.

These were finally introduced as the "All African Games" in 1965.

They took place in Brazzaville and Gakou, winner of the  gold medal at the first Friendship Games took bronze in the men's 400m.

By and large though, the English speaking nations dominated and amongst the Kenyan victors was Kip Keino.

The Francophone Games which started today were originally awarded to the Canadian cities of Moncton-Dieppe and New Brunswick. 

They were to have taken place in 2021 but within a couple of years, they withdrew as hosts two years later citing spiralling costs.

In 2019, the Games were re-allocated to Kinshasa although twice cancelled, the first time to avoid a clash with the re-arranged Olympics in Tokyo.

There have been reports this week of security concerns, prompting authorities to draft in extra police and guards.

Even so, Kinshasa seems determined to make them a success.

In many ways they are successors to those pioneering Community in Friendship Games over 60 years ago.