Gambia exits the Commonwealth

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. Photo / AP

Gambia has announced its withdrawal from the Commonwealth, barely six weeks before the Prince of Wales is due to open the grouping's biennial summit.

President Yahya Jammeh, a despot who seized power in the West African state almost 20 years ago, became the first leader to pull out of the Commonwealth unilaterally since President Robert Mugabe chose to withdraw Zimbabwe in 2003.

He claims to have personally discovered a cure for Aids and has been accused of widespread human rights abuses, notably by ordering a national campaign against "witches".

His Government announced that Gambia had "withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that the Gambia would never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any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 sudden departure of one of the Commonwealth's African members is an unexpected blow on the eve of a summit due to be held in Sri Lanka on November 16. Unusually, the Queen will not attend; instead the gathering will be opened by Prince Charles who will be joined by about 50 heads of government.

On a continent famous for its wayward leaders, Jammeh stands out for his sheer eccentricity.

The man who likes to be called "His Excellency Sheikh Professor Doctor President" has acted entirely in character by announcing his country's departure, apparently on a whim.

It was only last year that Jammeh chose to mark the Muslim festival of Eid by announcing that 38 prisoners with capital sentences would all be shot. Traditionally, this celebration at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is supposed to be marked by gestures of clemency. He later ordered a stay of execution.

On August 19 last year, however, Jammeh announced that capital sentences would be carried out "to the letter", adding: "There is no way my Government will allow 99 per cent of the population to be held to ransom by criminals." Four days later, eight men and one woman held in Mile 2 jail near Gambia's capital, Banjul, were executed by firing squad.

Last month, speaking at the UN, he declared that homosexuals were "very evil" and posed a great threat to human existence, before announcing that all homosexuals should leave Gambia and that anyone disobeying his order would be beheaded.

Jammeh seized power 19 years ago from Sir Dawda Jawara when he was a 29-year-old lieutenant. He was simply the first army officer to reach the presidential palace in Banjul.

Jammeh's rule over Gambia, a tiny enclave within Senegal which achieved independence from Britain in 1965, has become of steadily greater concern to human rights organisations and Western governments.