According to a Guardian newspaper report, Nigeria’s West African neighbour, Gambia, has withdrawn from the Commonwealth, a collection of 54 nations made up largely of former British colonies, saying it will “never be a member of any neo-colonial institution”.

In an unexpected announcement broadcast by the West African nation on state television on Wednesday it was not immediately clear what prompted the decision to leave the Commonwealth, which is headed by the Queen.

“The government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that the Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism,” the statement said.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said: “Decisions on Commonwealth membership are a matter for each member government. We would very much regret the Gambia or any other country, deciding to leave the Commonwealth.”

The Gambia joined the Commonwealth in 1965, when it gained independence from Britain. Although it remains a major tourist destination for British and other foreign holidaymakers, it has long had a troubled political relationship with its former colonial master.

The UK condemned the decision by the Gambia’s president Yahya Jammeh – who seized power in a 1994 coup and who is one of Africa’s longest-running and least democratic rulers – to execute nine death row prisoners, including one woman, without warning.

“I am deeply concerned over reports that nine prisoners on death row in The Gambia have been executed following comments by President Jammeh that all death row prisoners would now be executed,” said foreign office minister Alistair Burt in a statement at the time.

The Gambian government did not give a reason for the decision to leave the Commonwealth. However, it comes amid a greater emphasis by Britain on human rights and increasing pressure to promote equality based on sexuality.

Gambia’s leader, Jammeh on the other hand has been highly vocal in his condemnation of homosexuality, and last week gave a speech at the United Nations calling it a threat to human existence.

The UK ceased bilateral aid to the Gambia in 2011, but still gives roughly £8m per year to the country through multilateral donations to agencies.



- See more at: http://www.urnaija.com/gambia-quits-the-commonwealth

In less than 3 years, you will see he will be overthrown for daring.

panafrican: In less than 3 years, you will see he will be overthrown for daring.

YOU ARE VERY RIGHT. UNFORTUNATELY, PEOPLE ARE BLIND TO ALL THESE MACHINATIONS AND GEOPOLITICS IN PLAY BY THE WESTERNERS.

panafrican: In less than 3 years, you will see he will be overthrown for daring.

You will be surprised it being done with Nigerian Soldiers, or the support of Nigerian Government.
Just like Goodluck Jonathan Condemned Qaddafi even before other African nation could wrap their heads around the western military intrusion into the continent.

panafrican: In less than 3 years, you will see he will be overthrown for daring.

Or he could die in a plane crash or there would be a popular uprising from so-called pro democracy groups or their economy could take a nose dive, etc.....several ways to f**K the dude up for his insolence....

panafrican: In less than 3 years, you will see he will be overthrown for daring.

Gbam! I've always hoped & Prayed my country Ghana withdraws from this useless organisation. **Where is Nkrumah whem y0u need him?** I don't like Jammeh but I will give him thumbs up for this..... **But his days 0n earth are numbered! He is a dead man walking**

The last time a nation left the Commonwealth was in 2003, when Zimbabwe withdrew.

thoth:
You will be surprised it being done with Nigerian Soldiers, or the support of Nigerian Government.
Just like Goodluck Jonathan Condemned Qaddafi even before other African nation could wrap their heads around the western military intrusion into the continent.

Didn't Nigeria go into Liberia and Seirra Leone as well?

GH PATRIOT:

Gbam! I've always hoped & Prayed my country Ghana withdraws from this useless organisation. **Where is Nkrumah whem y0u need him?** I don't like Jammeh but I will give him thumbs up for this..... **But his days 0n earth are numbered! He is a dead man walking**

Why don't you like Jammeh?

igbo2011:

Didn't Nigeria go into Liberia and Seirra Leone as well?

Nigeria went into Liberia to save Liberia from the mess that the western interloping has put them in and they almost succeed until the Abacha died.

I mean this time Nigeria will be putting them in a mess that the west prepared.

Just as Tanzania and Ethiopia has always been used by the west for regime change and destabilization, Nigeria will be the new cool puppet on the block.

igbo2011:

Why don't you like Jammeh?

[b]"The primary reason for writing,
however, is the recently concluded
report pertaining to the
unconscionable massacre, in the
Gambia, by Yahya Jammeh's Gambian
military and security forces, of nearly
forth-four Ghanaian and other
ECOWAS nationals from Togo, Guinea-
Conakry and Senegal. Yahya Jammeh's
recent offer to compensate the families
of the Ghanaians whose slaughter he
had ordered back in 2005 is the closest
he has come yet to admitting his guilt
in this horrific incident. Yahya
Jammeh's deceitful attempt to
extricate himself from blame in your
countrymen's slaughter has been
challenged by Gambia's media, a media
that knows how he operates. To begin
with, it was the Gambian media which
broke the news of the horrendous
massacre not long after it happened,
but to our dismay, the Ghanaian
authorities at that time seemed to
ignore the story, probably because to
the government of John Kafour, it may
have sounded too bizarre to be
credible. But fast forward to now,
Gambians for the most part refute the
findings of the recently concluded
investigative panel and the report
submitted to your government as
totally fictitious and not worth the
paper it is written on. For starters,
everyone in the Gambia knows for a
fact it was Yahya Jammeh who ordered
the slaughter of defenseless
immigrants from your country, Togo,
Guinea and our neighbor Senegal, and
there are credible eyewitnesses who
will reveal the full account of what
really happened. Sir, the
“rationalization” that these victims
were mistaken for rebels is a smoke-
screen as dubious as it is a fantastical
nonsense.
Sir, how can a group of unarmed young
men carry out a military overthrow of a
country where they have no accomplice
and where they know no one, are
unarmed, hungry and disheveled?
During the interrogations, the group
had in fact explained in no uncertain
terms that they were immigrant
transients on their way to the Canary
Island off the coast of Morocco, but the
Yahya Jammeh regime instead of
investigating further, decided to take
their lives instead. Gambians are
making it abundantly clear that Yahya
Jammeh, as head of the military junta
in our country, personally ordered the
senseless slaughter that occurred on
the beaches of Brufut and Tanje. Now
that Yahya Jammeh has finally realized
the futility of denying the self-evident
truth, his offer to compensate the
families of his victims is in the opinion
of most Gambians, both an admission
and a confession of complicity in the
commitment of such a heinous crime.
Judging from the way that Yahya
Jammeh has dispatched more than
eighty innocent Gambians to their
untimely death over the past years, we
can say with absolute certainty that he
was the architect of this slaughter of
the fifty innocent immigrants, most of
who happened to be Ghanaians. And
since Yahya Jammeh has admitted that
his security forces are to blame for this
heinous crime, the wheel of justice
must begin to work. As Commander-in-
Chief of the Gambian Armed Forces,
Yahya Jammeh is uniquely positioned
to get to the bottom of this crime and
bring the guilty to justice, including
himself as the person who gave orders
for the slaughter of innocent people.
Sir, Gambians are confident that at the
end of a thorough investigation, one
primary actor in this sad tale who will
be found complicit in the cruel ordeal
would be Yahya Jammeh himself. Sir,
this genocidal crime cannot just be
swept under the rug because Yahya
Jammeh has agreed to compensate
families of eight victims and not the
entire forty-four, nor will we allow
political expediency to override the
rule of law. We urge your government
to take this matter up to its logical
conclusion in the interest of justice for
the victims, their families and our two
peoples. The government of Ghana
needs, therefore, to rethink the
agreement you signed with Yahya
Jammeh in Tripoli recently, an
agreement brokered by Col. Mumar
Gadhafi, because a crime was
committed and this matter is no longer
an issue of diplomacy, but of law. This
matter must not be laid to rest until a
full accounting of what happened is
brought to light, because the report on
which the recent Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) you signed with
Yahya Jammeh in Tripoli, was based
was a total work of fiction and,
therefore, lacks credibility. Moreover,
despite the fact the victims were
foreign nationals, the crimes were
committed on Gambian territory, and
the Gambians can bring prosecutable
charges against Yahya Jammeh and his
willing cabal of executioners. Sir,
notwithstanding your desire to
normalize relations with Yahya
Jammeh's regime, your government
must not be driven by political
expediency to take the easy way out.
The only way the dead can be honored
is through thoroughly investigating the
circumstances surrounding their
executions. Sir, according to the
report, Yahya Jammeh has blamed
members of his military and security
forces for the executions, but
Gambians have become accustomed to
Yahya Jammeh never taking
responsibility for his action, but always
shifting blame, but this time, we refuse
to allow his lies and deception to take
on the ring of truth.[/b]






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