Rwanda said it expected to be admitted officially to the Commonwealth later on Sunday at a summit in Trinidad and Tobago.
The central African country has been pushing hard to join the group of 53 member states, mainly former British colonies, that aims to promote good governance and develop trade links between members.
"The Commonwealth are making a statement about our entry at 6 pm Rwanda time (1500 GMT), we are waiting for that. We expect a positive announcement regarding our accession," Rwandan foreign affairs minister Rosemary Museminali told Reuters in a text message.
The minister of information and government spokesman, Louise Mushikiwabo, also sent a message to Reuters on Sunday saying: "Breaking good news: Rwanda officially 54th member of the Commonwealth."
Before independence in 1962, Rwanda was under German, then Belgian rule. As a Francophone country, it forged close ties with France during Francois Mitterand's presidency.
France has since been accused of supporting the Kigali government responsible for orchestrating the 1994 genocide of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Kigali cut diplomatic ties with France in 2006 after a French judge accused President Paul Kagame and several officials of assassinating former president Juvenal Habyarimana.
Rwanda has since introduced English as the third official language, alongside French and the native Kinyarwanda tongue. Critics say Rwanda's bid to join the Commonwealth, after joining Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in the East African Community, is a deliberate step to distance itself from France.
Rwanda's accession to the Commonwealth is strongly supported by Britain, Australia and Uganda. Kagame has won praise for running a disciplined government and attracting foreign investment as Rwanda rebuilds its economy after the genocide. But critics say his style is authoritarian.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an independent non-governmental organisation that promotes human rights within the Commonwealth, said in July that letting Rwanda join would be ill-advised.
Rwanda's foreign minister said then that while the country had room to improve, it should be considered in the context of where it had come from and no nation was 100 percent perfect.
CHRI said that despite relative internal stability since the 1994 genocide, Rwanda had illegally invaded neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo four times.
It also said Rwanda's adherence to international law, its freedom of speech and the press, and its community justice system were not up to global standards.
Comments