Gambia says Commonwealth pull-out not subject to negotiation

The Government in a statement issued last week Wednesday, announced that the country was withdrawing from the Commonwealth of Nations with immediate effect.

‘‘Government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that The Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution, and will never be a party to any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, without elaborating further.

In another statement issued late Monday evening, the Government through the presidency said: ‘‘The Office of the President hereby informs Gambians and friends of The Gambia that our decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations is final and not subject to negotiation. We wish to inform our allies that there is no point sending special envoys to Banjul for us to reconsider this decision.’’

According to the government, the decision to leave the Commonwealth was made based on the principle that we do not want to be part of any colonial or neo-colonial institution.

‘‘Changing our decision is far-fetched because the Commonwealth remains at best a neo-colonial institution and at worst an animal farm, an idea which The Gambia will never subscribe to,’’ it said.

‘‘In this vein we urge all African countries planning to send special envoys on this matter not to waste their tax payers’ money. We further assure our allies that the decision to leave the Commonwealth is not against individual member state and this would not affect our bilateral relations with them. We have reached a point of no return in our decision to leave the Commonwealth and this is non-negotiable,’’ the statement added.