Talk:List of members of the Commonwealth of Nations by continent

Comments

Isn't Mannin member of the Commonwealth? Everton 13:03, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

No. All of the members of the Commonwealth are independent nations. None of the Crown dependencies, such as the Isle of Man, nor the British overseas territories, such as Bermuda, is a member of the Commonwealth separately from the UK. -- ALoan (Talk) 30 June 2005 12:38 (UTC)

Shouldn't Cyprus be listed among the European countries? Quote from the article of Cyprus: "Cyprus is geographically in Western Asia (or the Near East), though politically and culturally it is considered as being in Europe.", and it is now a member of the EU. Nerio 11:27, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

Shouldn't Angola be listed as a member?

There has been some limited discussion of Angola joining, but it isn't a member. To date, Mozambique is the only member never to have been a part of the British Empire. At the 1997 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), it was decided that no others member would be admitted unless they had past constitutional links to the United Kingdom. Thus, since Angola does not, it is unlikely to gain Commonwealth membership any time soon (the same applies to Rwanda, Eritrea, East Timor, and Cambodia). Bastin 09:36, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, that's true for all of those listed except Eritrea. Eritrea was run by the UK under UN Trusteeship before it became federated with Ethiopia (as a result of Italy surrendering all its colonies after WWII). East Timor and Angola for sure are unlikely to gain membership any time soon, but Rwanda's application might be based on the fact that it was part of German East Africa (which also included Burundi and the mainland part of Tanzania). That colony was surrendered to the British and Belgians at the end of WWI and partitioned among them to give League of Nation Mandates (Tanganyika to Britain and Ruanda-Urundi to Belgium). The trick for Rwanda will be if the entire colony of German East Africa, including Rwanda and Burundi, was surrendered to the UK before Rwanda and Burundi came to be run by Belgium. If so (a pretty uncertain and big "if"), and if the Commonwealth and its members consider this to be a sufficient constitutional link, then Rwanda could become a member. Cambodia was in the part of French Indochina (the southern part) that was temporarily occupied by the British at the end of WWII to effect the Japanese surrender and impose law and order until the French could return (the northern part of French Indochina was likewise occupied by China). That at least seems to be the only reason why Cambodia would even entertain the idea of applying for Commonwealth membership (but if that were a valid reason, then Madagascar, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia among others would have similar qualifications for membership). Overall though Eritrea should be able to join (like Tanganyika/Tanzania and Cameroon did), Rwanda might have a chance, less so for Cambodia and East Timor and Angola have practically no chance of joining.72.27.2.68 05:33, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Merge?

Talk:List of members of the Commonwealth of Nations by date joined#Merge using sortable table? -- Jeandré, 2007-01-10t11:37z