The Commonwealth has admitted French-speaking Rwanda as its 54th member in the latest expansion of the geographically diverse group of mostly former British colonies, its leaders said yesterday.
The decision to let the Central African country join was taken by leaders of the Commonwealth, which is headed by Britain's Queen Elizabeth, at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago.
It came on the same day as Rwanda and France agreed in Kigali to restore diplomatic relations that were severed in 2006.
The three-day Commonwealth meeting focused mainly on forging a consensus on firm commitments and strategies for fighting global warming that could be brought to UN climate talks in Denmark next month.
"What we have demonstrated is that diversity can easily be turned into strength rather than a weakness," the summit host, Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning said in a closing speech.
He said the Commonwealth had contributed significantly to the diplomatic drive for a comprehensive climate pact to be achieved at the December 7-18 talks in Copenhagen.
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.
Before independence in 1962, Rwanda was under German then Belgian rule. As a Francophone country, it forged close ties with France during François Mitterrand's presidency and 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.
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 state-run New Times newspaper quoted Minister of Information Louise Mushikiwabo as saying.
Commonwealth members say the range and diversity of the large group, which brings together developed industrialised powers, developing countries and some of the world's smallest island states, creates an ideal forum in which to seek consensus on issues like climate change and economic policy.
The Commonwealth leaders announced Australia would host the group's next summit in 2011, after developed countries like Britain and Canada opposed a bid by Sri Lanka to host it.
But Sri Lanka, which faced criticism over its conduct of the war against Tamil fighters and its treatment of refugees, would be able to host the 2013 summit if it worked to address the concerns, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.