The Gambian government has announced that the former British colony is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect.

"[The] government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism," a statement said.

No further reason was given, but a foreign ministry official - who spoke on condition of anonymity - said the decision came after the government rejected a proposal by the Commonwealth last year to create commissions in Banjul to protect human rights, media rights and fight against corruption.

The proposal followed an April 2012 visit to Gambia by Commonwealth secretary-general Kamalesh Sharma, during which he met with president Yahya Jammeh and other top government officials.

Mr Jammeh, who is regularly accused of rights abuses, has ruled mainland Africa's smallest country with an iron fist since seizing power in a 1994 coup.

He accused Britain of backing Gambia's political opposition ahead of the 2011 elections.

Earlier this year, Gambia was singled out for its poor rights record in Britain's annual Human Rights and Democracy report, which cited cases of unlawful detentions, illegal closures of newspapers and radio stations and discrimination against minority groups.

A spokesman at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We would very much regret Gambia, or any other country, deciding to leave the Commonwealth."

He noted however that "decisions on Commonwealth membership are a matter for each member government".

The Commonwealth bloc is a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, many of them former territories of the British empire.

President Jammeh resists pressure for reform

Gambia is a tiny sliver of land wedged into Senegal. It suffers from widespread poverty but its kilometres of palm-fringed beaches attract sun-seeking European tourists.

Mr Jammeh, who has been re-elected to power three times, has woven an aura of mysticism around himself, dressing in billowing white robes and always clutching a Koran.

The man who claims he can cure AIDS and other illnesses is often pilloried for rights abuses and the muzzling of journalists.

In 2010 the EU cancelled 22 million euros ($32 million) in budget support for Banjul because of concerns over human rights and governance.

In August 2012, Mr Jammeh came under attack from Amnesty International and others for sending nine prisoners to the firing squad and promising many more would go the same way.

Many top officials have found themselves charged with treason, often related to coup plots which observers have said are a sign of paranoia by Mr Jammeh.

Last year he warned foreign diplomats that his country would not be "bribed" with aid to accept homosexuality.

"If you are to give us aid for men and men or for women and women to marry, leave it. We don't need your aid because as far as I am the president of the Gambia, you will never see that happen in this country," he said.

In January this year Mr Jammeh accused the European Union of trying to destablise Gambia, after the EU set out a 17-point checklist of demands for reforms.

They included calls for Gambia to abolish the death penalty and to re-open newspapers and radio stations closed down by authorities.

The president regularly insists that he will not bow to external pressures for reform.

ABC/AFP