Which country became the first without historic links to the United Kingdom to join the Commonwealth?

In 1995, Mozambique joined the Commonwealth, becoming the first member to have never had a constitutional link with the United Kingdom or another Commonwealth member. Concerns that this would allow open-ended expansion of the Commonwealth and dilute its historic ties prompted the 1995 CHOGM to launch the Inter-Governmental Group on Criteria for Commonwealth Membership, to report at the 1997 CHOGM, to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group decided that, in future, new members would be limited to those with constitutional association with an existing Commonwealth member.

In addition to this new rule, the former rules were consolidated into a single document. They had been prepared for the High Level Appraisal Group set up at the 1989 CHOGM, but not publicly announced until 1997. These requirements, which remain the same today, are that members must:

Accept and comply with the Harare principles (This Declaration put emphasis on human rights and democracy by detailing these principles).

Be fully sovereign states.

Recognise Queen Elizabeth II as the Head of the Commonwealth.

Accept the English language as the means of Commonwealth communication.

Respect the wishes of the general population vis-à-vis Commonwealth membership.