FACTBOX: Commonwealth suspensions since 1949

(Reuters) - The Commonwealth suspended Pakistan's membership after President Pervez Musharraf failed to meet a deadline to lift emergency rule and resign as army chief. This is the second time the country has been suspended.

The Commonwealth's ministerial action group handed down the penalty late on Thursday, the night before a heads of government summit started in Kampala.

Here is a list of countries that have left the Commonwealth or been suspended since 1949:

* FIJI:

1987 - Fiji is suspended after a coup. It is allowed back in 1997 after it adopts a new constitution.

2000 - Fiji again suspended following another coup. It is readmitted in December 2001.

2006 - Fiji's military chief, Frank Bainimarama, seizes power in a bloodless coup on December 5. The Commonwealth again suspends Fiji and it remains excluded.

* NIGERIA:

1995 - Nigeria is suspended after it executes nine minority rights activists including writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. It is readmitted in May 1999.

* PAKISTAN:

1972 - Pakistan walks out in protest at Commonwealth recognition of East Pakistan as Bangladesh. It rejoins in 1989.

1999 - Pakistan is suspended after a bloodless coup by General Pervez Musharraf. It is readmitted in 2004 after the Commonwealth recognizes progress on democratic reforms.

2007 - Pakistan is suspended after Musharraf fails to meet deadline to revoke emergency rule he declared on November 3 and reverse other authoritarian steps.

* SIERRA LEONE:

1997 - The Commonwealth suspends the Sierra Leone military junta. The country is readmitted when President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah returns to power in July 1998.

* SOUTH AFRICA:

1961 - The Commonwealth upholds racial equality as its cardinal principle, forcing South Africa to withdraw before it is expelled. Pretoria is readmitted in June 1994 following all-race elections.

* ZIMBABWE:

2002 - Suspended following Robert Mugabe's controversial victory in flawed elections.

2003 - The Commonwealth agrees to suspend Zimbabwe indefinitely. Mugabe withdraws from the Commonwealth.

Sources: Reuters, The Commonwealth Secretariat (www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/34493/140633/timeline)

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; editing by Barry Moody and Roger Crabb)