Rwanda becomes Commonwealth member

Port of Spain/Kigali: The Commonwealth has admitted French-speaking Rwanda as its 54th member in the latest expansion of the diverse group of mostly former British colonies, a spokesman said Sunday.

The decision to let the Central African country join was taken by leaders of the Commonwealth, which is headed by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago.

Rwanda's accession to the Commonwealth had been widely anticipated, despite objections voiced by some human rights groups that questioned whether the country met the required standards of political freedom and human rights.

Rwanda has been rebuilding its economy after a 1994 ethnic genocide that killed some 800,000 people. The last new member to enter the Commonwealth, which espouses democracy, good governance and respect for human rights among its key values, was Mozambique, a former Portuguese territory in Africa, which joined in 1995. Commonwealth Secretariat spokesman Eduardo del Buey said Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma had telephoned Rwandan President Paul Kagame to advise him of the decision.

Rwanda's government welcomed the announcement. "My government sees this accession as recognition of the tremendous progress this country has made in the last 15 years," the New Times newspaper quoted Minister of Information Louise Mushikiwabo as saying in Kigali.

Meanwhile, France and Rwanda have agreed to re-open diplomatic relations, the French president's office said on yesterday.

Facts

• The Commonwealth evolved from Britain's former empire and groups nearly 2 billion people (including India's more than 1.1 billion), with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as its head.
• Member countries span six continents and oceans from Africa (19) to Asia (8), the Americas (2), the Caribbean (12), Europe (3) and the South Pacific (10).
• The Commonwealth now has 54 member countries of which 33 are republics, 16 are monarchies with Queen Elizabeth II as their sovereign. Five have their own monarchies.