eg,in Gulf region, Kuwait,Bahrain,Qatar,UAE were British protected states they didn't join Commonwealth, any main reasons?
former protectorates: Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE former mandates: Iraq, Jordan former condominium: Sudan and South Yemen, Somaliland
Interesting question. I'm not sure what the requirements for membership are, though I assume that they have not applied for membership (according to Wikipedia, no Middle Eastern or North African states have applied).
Most likely it's because they're not willing to recognize the Queen as their head of state. Most of the former protectorates are monarchies themselves.
Why on earth would they want to join anyway? it would be extremly pointless and stupid to join. If I was a leader of one of the countries I wouldn't join the commonwealth.
The Commonwealth has a number of republics as members. Increasingly, territories that were never part of the British Empire are joining. Its more the decision of political in those countries. Being in the monarchy doesn't really matter.
India and Pakistan are also still members of the Commonwealth, even though they have separate heads of state. There are several others, including Cyprus. And actually, Skippy, you're wrong. Algeria, Sudan and South Sudan are all applicants. Algeria has no colonial connection to the UK, just was the site of Allied military ops in WWII. Somaliland is also an applicant, though their independence is not internationally recognized, which will likely remain a problem for them.
How true is any of this with the exception of South Sudan, which is not an Arab nation anyway. I saw this in Wikipedia & while I didn't look closely the citation for this application was from 2007 or 2008. How long does it take to process an application to the Commonwealth?
The article references an article from The Independent in 2009, during the CHOGM, when Rwanda was inducted to the Commonwealth. That meeting is every two years; nobody was inducted in 2011. I have no idea how long the process was for Rwanda. They're the first inductees of the 21st century, so I can imagine it's not likely to be a short process.
Hate to bring back an old thread but I'm interested in all things Commonwealth. Am currently working on football rankings for Commonwealth countries. Any way under the original membership criteria of links to the former British Empire the Arab states of Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Yemen and Palestine would be eligible. They however chose not to join on independence. However one of the new key criteria is " an applicant country must demonstrate commitment to: democracy and democratic processes, including free and fair elections and representative legislatures; the rule of law and independence of the judiciary; good governance, including a well-trained public service and transparent public accounts; and protection of human rights, freedom of expression, and equality of opportunity;". This statement would rule out most of the Arab states, and was used to reject Yemen and Palestine applications in the past. It has also lead to the suspension Nigeria, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Fiji in the past. Approval to join can be quite slow it took 6 years for Rwanda's 2nd application to be approved. There are a few current expressions of interest to join, but to my knowledge nothing formal. South Sudan is likely to be the next accepted member.