Gambia, the West African Former British colony rejoined the Commonwealth in February, five years after its now exiled authoritarian former leader Yahya Jammeh pulled Gambia out, labelling the 54-member group a “neo-colonial institution”.
“We are friends and partners, and once again we are both members of the Commonwealth family of Nations,” the Prince said at a ceremony in Banjul’s McCarthy Square, hosted by President Adama Barrow.
Gambia, he said, was “turning its back on 20 years of autocratic rule in order to embrace a new beginning,” he said.
Yahya Jammeh, who fled Gambia last year after regional militaries launched an operation to remove him, repeatedly clashed with the British authorities over criticism of his government’s human rights record.
Under Jammeh’s 23-year rule, the country gained a reputation as a repressive state where journalists and political opponents were jailed, tortured and even murdered.
Critics of the Commonwealth see the return as an outdated relic of Britain’s imperial past, while supporters say it gives small countries like Gambia a seat at the table with larger States and has potential to improve life for its 2.4 billion residents.