Global Britain Gets Boost as Former French Colonies Join the Commonwealth

The most public proof of Britain’s widening international role in the post-Brexit era is Prime Minister Johnson standing shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine as that country battles Russia, but his recent jaunt to distant Rwanda for a Commonwealth summit also provides evidence. During the meeting, also attended by Prince Charles, the Commonwealth admitted Gabon and Togo as its 55th and 56th members. As a Commonwealth communique cooed, “Both countries are former French colonies.”A quiet but ambitious undertaking that could school America in some ways, Global Britain, according to Whitehall, is all about “reinvesting in our relationships, championing the rules-based international order and demonstrating that the UK is open, outward-looking and confident on the world stage.” It is, in short, the British government’s vision for taking a proactive and higher-profile approach to international affairs, whether in the form of Mr. Johnson’s warm embrace of President Zelensky — and very public chiding of the Russian strongman, Vladimir Putin — or in bringing former European colonies squarely into the Commonwealth fold. French newspaper Le Figaro reported without much fanfare that Gabon and Togo are the “the latest countries without historic ties to the United Kingdom to join the Anglophone club led by Queen Elizabeth II.” Both countries are historically Francophone, but in Libreville and Lomé, the Gabonese and Togolese capitals, there has been a growing sense over the years that Paris has other priorities — such as, well, Paris. Gabon’s new foreign minister, Michael Mousa Adamo, told London’s Spectator that the Commonwealth is more “dynamic” and “hands-on’, and will act as a gateway for Gabon in the English-speaking world, whereas Gabon’s links with France have in his view cost his country billions of dollars in investment.Gabon is a sparsely populated country bordering Cameroon — also a member of the Commonwealth — along with Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo, according to a Commonwealth press release. It also specifies that Togo, with a population of approximately 7.8 million people, is bordered by Ghana — a Commonwealth member — and Benin and Burkina Faso. Neither country has a historic association with the Commonwealth, with both gaining independence from France in the 1960s. Joining the Commonwealth means more than chatting over tea and scones, of course: There are economic benefits, even if what they are specifically is not immediately clear. Mr. Adamo, for his part, hinted that Gabon could move away from using its currency, the CFA Franc, which is controlled by the French treasury. Togo, with its important reserves of phosphates, is also eyeing greater opportunity with London than apparently it has been afforded by Paris. The Togolese minister of foreign affairs, Robert Dussey, told the AFP that joining the Commonwealth and its two-and-a-half billion consumers presents his country with economic and educational opportunities and has given rise to a new craze among his people for learning English. Togo’s membership was motivated by “the desire to broaden its diplomatic, political, and economic network,” Mr. Dussey said, “and to get closer to the Anglophone world.”

Global Britain Gets Boost as Former French Colonies Join the Commonwealth

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