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| Jammeh says the “Commonwealth remains at best a
neo-colonial institution and at worst an animal farm, an idea which The
Gambia will never subscribe to”. (Photo/EPA) |
“Our decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth
of Nations is final and not subject to negotiation,” The Gambia’s President
Yahya Jammeh said on Monday.
“We have reached a point of no return in our
decision to leave the Commonwealth and this is non-negotiable,” he added in an
October 7 statement aired on State TV.
The West African nation left the 54-member
Commonwealth, mainly of British former colonies, on October 2 describing it as
a “neo-colonial institution” or an “extension of colonialism”.
It reiterated that “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”.
The Gambia also told its allies “there is no
point sending special envoys to Banjul for us to reconsider this decision”
(Commonwealth withdrawal); two days after Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan
sent his Foreign Affairs Minister Nurudeen Mohamed to the country as a “special
envoy”.
There is no further information as to whether
Mohamed’s visit was linked to the country’s shock withdrawal from the body
known as the “Family of Nations”.
But the statement issued by the President’s
Office stated: “We urge all African countries planning to send special envoys
on this matter not to waste their taxpayers’ money.”
It says the “Commonwealth remains at best a
neo-colonial institution” and “at worst an animal farm, an idea which The
Gambia will never subscribe to”.
While making reference to George Orwell’s
literary fiction ‘Animal Farm’, the presidency said “changing our decision is
far-fetched”.
However, he assured The Gambia’s allies that
the decision to leave the Commonwealth “is not against any individual member
state” and this would not affect bilateral relations.
Meanwhile, the UK has said it “very much regret”
Gambia’s decision to leave the Commonwealth. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth
Office said it has not been officially contacted by The Gambia about the decision.
Three
days after its withdrawal from the Commonwealth, The Gambia Government accused
Britain and the United States of America, USA, which it called “enemies of The
Gambia” of sponsoring Gambians and non-Gambians to set up organizations with
media facilities outside the country to mount “shameless campaign of lying”
against it.
“These
people and institutions specialize in lying and providing false attestations
for would-be asylum seekers using the main opposition party (UDP) as a platform
for such nefarious activities thereby casting a very bad and negative image of
both the Government and noble people of The Gambia,” it stated allegedly.
The Gambia,
the smallest country on mainland Africa, has a population of 1.7 million. Its
current government has been repeatedly accused of human rights violations.
However,
the President Yahya Jammeh-led government argues the country's human rights
record since 1994, the year he took power in a bloodless coup, is “better than
that of the United Kingdom and the United States put together”.
"Certainly
the British Empire was founded by extraordinary brutality and the massive
looting and shedding of the blood of Africans, Asians and others. “Its’ only
legacy is exploitation," it said.
President Jammeh’s recent trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York was greeted by protests by Gambian dissidents outside a hotel where he stayed.
In his Sept., 27 address, he criticised Western powers and identified “excessive greed”, “obsession with world domination”, and “homosexuality” as the three biggest threats to human existence.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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