Rwanda’s Commonwealth bid on course – assessment team

VILLAGE URUGWIRO - Senior Commonwealth officials have said Rwanda’s hopes to join the 53-nation grouping look promising. Speaking to journalists shortly after meeting President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro on Friday evening, Ambassador Mathew Newhaus, Director for Political Affairs Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat said Rwanda is well governed. “Rwanda’s democratisation process has improved. We shall report the findings to the Secretary General soon,” said Newhaus, the head of the assessment team. He continued saying that Rwanda was one of the applicants working on democratic values. In Kigali, the team assessed the election system, the level of democracy, good governance and the judiciary to see if they are compatible with the expectations of the Commonwealth. Once the Secretary General is satisfied with his team’s recommendations, he then informs member states and seeks their comments . That is when the country seeking admission is invited to make a formal application but it must show proof that the application enjoys widespread domestic support and that it followed a democratic process. The officials, including Ambassador Ayodele Oke, special advisor and head of African section and Martin Kasirye, advisor in the African section of Political Affairs Division, arrived in Kigali on Monday to start assessing the country’s eligibility to join the Commonwealth. Rwanda applied to join the organisation in 2003. Newhaus said the team had briefed the President on their findings. Speaking to Sunday Times, the Minister of Foreign affairs, Rosemary Museminali, expressed optimism that Rwanda would succeed in joining. She said Rwanda would know her fate in 2009 when Commonwealth heads next meet. With its present membership of 53 countries, the Commonwealth constitutes over 40 percent of the World Trade Organisation. Commonwealth countries handle trade worth $2.8 trillion (Frw1,500 trillion) annually and have foreign direct investment outflows of $100 billion (Frw53.8 trillion), which account for more than 20 per cent of international trade and investment. Besides Rwanda, other applications are from Madagascar, Yemen, Algeria and Sudan. Mozambique is the only non-English speaking country that has been admitted to the Commonwealth to date. Ends