Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh was born on 25 May 1965 and is a Gambian politician and former military officer who was the leader of The Gambia from 1994 to 2017, firstly as chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council from 1994 to 1996 and then as President of the Gambia from 1996 to 2017.
69 Facts About Yahya Jammeh
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Yahya Jammeh attended Gambia High School in Banjul from 1978 to 1983 and served in the Gambian National Gendarmerie from 1984 to 1989.
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Yahya Jammeh was then commissioned as an officer of the Gambian National Army, commanding the Military Police from 1992 to 1994.
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Yahya Jammeh was re-elected as president in 2001,2006 and 2011, but lost to Adama Barrow in 2016.
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In 2013, Yahya Jammeh withdrew the Gambia from the Commonwealth of Nations, and in 2016 he began the process of withdrawing it from the International Criminal Court.
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Yahya Jammeh is accused of having stolen millions of dollars from the country's coffers to fund a life of luxury, which he denies.
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Yahya Jammeh was born on 25 May 1965 in Kanilai, a village in the Foni Kansala district of the Western Division of The Gambia.
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Yahya Jammeh is the son of Aja Fatou Ashombi Bojang, a housewife and trader, and Abdul Aziz James Junkung Jammeh, a career wrestler.
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Yahya Jammeh's grandparents migrated to the Gambia from the Casamance region of Senegal.
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Yahya Jammeh had a rural upbringing as part of a Muslim Jola family, primarily focused in Kanilai.
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Yahya Jammeh attended Kanilai primary school, Saint Edwards primary school in Bwiam, from 1972 to 1978.
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Yahya Jammeh was part of the Special Intervention Unit from 1984 to 1986 and was an escort training instructor at the Gendarmerie Training School from 1986 to 1989.
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Yahya Jammeh was promoted to sergeant in April 1986, and to cadet officer in December 1987.
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Yahya Jammeh joined the Gambian National Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 29 September 1989, serving as the officer in charge of the Presidential Escort, part of the Presidential Guards, from 1989 to 1990.
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Yahya Jammeh was the head of security detail attached to Pope John Paul II during his visit to the Gambia in February 1992.
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Yahya Jammeh attended the Military Police Officers Basic Course at Fort McClellan in the United States from September 1993 to January 1994.
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Yahya Jammeh was one of the four junior Army officers who organised the 1994 coup d'etat against Sir Dawda Jawara's government.
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Yahya Jammeh promised that it would be a "coup with a difference", and that the country would be returned to civilian rule "as soon as we have set things right".
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Yahya Jammeh claimed the suspension of aid programmes amounted to "neocolonialism".
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Yahya Jammeh banned all political activity, arrested two socialist journalists, and detained several of his Army superiors.
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Yahya Jammeh confined ministers of Jawara's government under house arrest.
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In November 1994, the same month when Yahya Jammeh was formally promoted to the rank of captain, there was an unsuccessful coup attempt by several disaffected young officers leading to numerous deaths, but Yahya Jammeh remained in power.
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In contrast, opposition political parties [would be] sidelined and allowed little political space in a one-sided electoral contest in which Yahya Jammeh was the assured 'winner'.
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In 1996, on 28 August, Yahya Jammeh was formally promoted to the rank of colonel and then retired from the army on 6 September, one month before the 1996 presidential election.
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Yahya Jammeh founded the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction as his political party.
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Yahya Jammeh ran for a third term in the presidential election held on 22 September 2006; the election was initially planned for October but was moved forward because of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
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Yahya Jammeh had made a number of public statements against the press.
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Yahya Jammeh saw through legislation to restrict the activities of the press.
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Yahya Jammeh's arrest was witnessed by his coworkers, and, despite being ordered to release Manneh by an ECOWAS court, the government denied that Manneh was still imprisoned.
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In December 2015, Yahya Jammeh banned female genital mutilation in The Gambia, labelling the practice of FGM as having "no place in Islam or in modern society"; anyone that ignored the ban would face a prison sentence of up to three years.
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Yahya Jammeh's response was that anyone caught marrying a girl under 18 years of age would be jailed for up to twenty years.
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On 15 May 2008, Yahya Jammeh announced that his government would introduce legislation that would set laws against homosexuals that would be "stricter than those in Iran", and that he would "cut off the head" of any gay or lesbian person discovered in the country.
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Yahya Jammeh went on to disparage the LGBT by saying that "As far as I am concerned, LGBT can only stand for Leprosy, Gonorrhoea, Bacteria and Tuberculosis, all of which are detrimental to human existence".
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Yahya Jammeh's claimed treatment program includes instructing patients to cease taking their anti-retroviral drugs.
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Yahya Jammeh's claims have been criticised for promoting unscientific treatment that could have dangerous results, including the infection of others by those who thought they had been cured by the method.
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Yahya Jammeh has claimed to develop a treatment for infertility in women as part of what is called the President's Alternative Treatment Program.
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Yahya Jammeh has a close relationship with Jolas in the Casamance region of Senegal, who allowed him to "rule with impunity".
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In turn, Yahya Jammeh supported the rebels in the Casamance conflict, by engaging in the trade of illegal drugs, small arms, and money-laundering with the rebel groups.
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Shortly after the outbreak of the Guinea-Bissau Civil War in June 1998, Yahya Jammeh sought a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
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Yahya Jammeh personally canvassed regional opinion on the war in Cape Verde, Mauritania, Guinea and Senegal.
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Yahya Jammeh sent Momodou Lamin Sedat Jobe, his foreign minister, to meet with rebel leader Ansumane Mane to attempt to arrange peace talks in Banjul, though these efforts were fruitless.
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Yahya Jammeh sent a delegation to meet with Senegalese president Macky Sall in early December 2012.
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Yahya Jammeh bankrolled university education for the less privileged both in The Gambia and abroad.
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Taiwan was once the "financial lifeline" for Yahya Jammeh's regime, providing financial support as part of its campaign for international recognition at the United Nations.
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Yahya Jammeh was accused of ordering the shooting of the students, but the government denied the allegations.
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The Yahya Jammeh administration proceeded to cover up the incident from Ghana and ECOWAS.
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On 21 May 2009, The New York Times reported that the alleged witch-hunting campaign had been sparked by the President Yahya Jammeh, who believed that the death of his aunt earlier that year could be attributed to witchcraft.
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At first, Yahya Jammeh stated that he would not contest the result.
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Yahya Jammeh subsequently announced that he had annulled the result, pending a new vote.
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Yahya Jammeh then filed a petition with the Supreme Court of the Gambia to contest the result.
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Yahya Jammeh appointed six new judges to the Supreme Court, having sacked all but one in 2015.
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Yahya Jammeh attempted to have Barrow's inauguration blocked, but the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court refused to rule on the matter.
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Barrow cautioned that the commission wouldn't prosecute Yahya Jammeh, only investigate the alleged crimes.
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Yahya Jammeh later left The Gambia for Equatorial Guinea, where he allegedly lives in a mansion in the village of Mongomo.
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Yahya Jammeh added that the state's treasury was virtually empty, which was confirmed by technicians in the Ministry of Finance as well as the Central Bank of the Gambia.
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Yahya Jammeh was photographed in May 2019 accompanied by Teodoro Obiang Nguema himself, Jammeh had grown his beard, the matches of the Equatoguinean opposition denounced the presence of this "annoying guest" claiming that "they do not want another dictator in the country".
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On 12 January 2020, Yahya Jammeh was warned by Gambian officials not to return to The Gambia without permission, as his safety could not be guaranteed.
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Yahya Jammeh briefly dated Tuti Faal, of Mauritanian descent, in 1994 before marrying her.
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Yahya Jammeh worked for the Gambia Telecommunication Company until the coup in July 1994.
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Yahya Jammeh married his second wife Zeinab Suma Yahya Jammeh, on 26 March 1999.
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On 30 September 2010, Yahya Jammeh announced his marriage to a 21-year-old additional wife by the name Alima Sallah, daughter of Omar Gibril Sallah, Gambia's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Zahra Sallah.
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Zeinab Yahya Jammeh had reportedly already been living in the US separately from her husband for some time.
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Yahya Jammeh told state television that the proclamation was in line with Gambia's "religious identity and values".
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Yahya Jammeh added that no dress code would be imposed and citizens of other faiths would be allowed to practise freely.
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Yahya Jammeh was Commander in Chief of The Armed Forces and Chief Custodian of the Sacred Constitution of the Gambia.
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Yahya Jammeh has received honorary doctorates from Saint Mary's University of Halifax in 1999 for providing his citizens "freedom to pursue their well-being, and to live in peace and harmony", St Mary's College of Maryland in 2004, Universidad Empresarial de Costa Rica, Norman Academy, and National Taipei University of Technology.
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Yahya Jammeh has received dubious awards through the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, an unrecognised higher education accreditation organisation.
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Yahya Jammeh received "Russian" and "German" honorary degrees from members of the IPSP.
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Yahya Jammeh's portrait is depicted on some of the Gambian dalasi banknotes; 2014 polymer 20 Dalasis banknote commemorating 20 Years of his regime.