Muhammad yahya jammeh biography

Jammeh ran for a third term as president in September where he won 67 percent of the vote. In Jammeh was reelected as president for a fourth term, receiving 72 percent of the vote. On December 1, , Jammeh was defeated by Adama Barrow. After initially rejecting the election results, Jammeh on January 21, , announced that he was stepping down as president.

He left the country the same day for Guinea and then proceeded to Equatorial Guinea. Jammeh married his second wife, Zeinab Suma, in and the couple had two children, a daughter named Mariam Jammeh, and a son, Muhammad Yahya Jammeh. The couple divorced a year later. However, even his critics conceded that he had wide popular support.

Its borders were carved by departing European colonial powers in the s. Ethnically similar to neighboring Senegal , which surrounds it on the north, east, and south, Gambia was ruled by England in the colonial era, while Senegal was a French possession. In , Gambia became an independent nation. The British put in place the outlines of a democratic government before their departure, and Sir Dawda Jawara was named prime minister.

He was elected president in Jawara remained president for nearly a quarter century, but allegations of corruption mounted. It was said that not even one high school had been built during his rule. Things came to a head in July of , when a group of young Gambian military officers confronted Jawara to express grievances over unpaid army wages.

Born on May 25, in the village of Kanilai, he had joined the Gambian national police force as a private in , and risen through the ranks of the army. Career: President of the nation of Gambia; joined Gambian national police force as a private, ; became sergeant, Gambian National Army, ; became escort training instructor, National Police Training School, ; became an army cadet officer, ; became second lieutenant, ; in charge of presidential escort, Presidential Guards, ; high-ranking member of Gambia Military Police, ; led coup and assumed post of Chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council, becoming head of state, ; elected President, Jawara fled to a United States warship docked in Banjul, and the transfer of power occurred without bloodshed.

Just before the execution of the coup, Jammeh had returned to Gambia from a military police training program in the United States. The coup marked a turning away from democracy in Gambia, and international condemnation was strong. The plans for democratic elections were eventually pushed back. Gambia suffered a cutoff in American and European aid, and tourism fell sharply.

Jammeh began to deliver on some of his promises. Although the country seemingly had little wherewithal to generate income aside from its chief cash crop of peanuts, Jammeh broke ground on a new hospital, the first since independence, and a new international airport. A new national television station began broadcasting. Sixteen new schools were built in 26 months.

In fact, the arch was completed with financing from the government of Taiwan. The Gambian government's treatment of journalists and opposition parties during his tenure in power also caused huge concern among human rights groups. Mr Jammeh's government was under intense pressure to solve the murder of the editor of The Point newspaper, Deyda Hydara.

Gunned down in , he has become a symbol of the campaign for press freedom in The Gambia. The international media group Reporters Without Borders RSF said there was "absolute intolerance of any form of criticism" in The Gambia, with death threats, surveillance and arbitrary night-time arrests of journalists "who do not sing the government's praises".

So why is Deyda Hydara so special? In , he vowed to stay in power for "a billion years" if God wills. He also ordered the execution of criminals and political opponents on death row. Claimed in he could cure Aids and infertility with herbal concoctions. Denied his security agents killed journalist Deyda Hydara in In August , Mr Jammeh used a speech to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid to announce that all prisoners on death row would be executed, effectively ending a moratorium that had been in place for 27 years.

Nine people were executed, including Alieu Bah, a former lieutenant in the army who was arrested and jailed in for plotting to oust Mr Jammeh. His defeat came as a huge surprise, given that he ran one of the most feared intelligence agencies in Africa, with its tentacles spread across the country - so much so that until the election, people in cities and villages feared speaking ill of the man who was officially referred to as his "His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Doctor Yahya AJJ Jammeh Babili Mansa".

In , he added the title "Babili Mansa" - a Mandinka-language honorific which can be translated as "chief bridge builder" or "conqueror of rivers". Gambia president wins fourth term. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikinews Wikidata item. President of the Gambia from to Tuti Faal. Zeinab Soumah.

Alima Sallah. Early life and military service [ edit ]. Bunja Darboe rtd [ 8 ]. President of the Gambia [ edit ]. Part of a series on the. Elections [ edit ].

Muhammad yahya jammeh biography

Domestic policy [ edit ]. Suppression of the press [ edit ]. Women's rights [ edit ]. Judiciary [ edit ]. LGBT rights [ edit ]. Foreign policy [ edit ]. Senegal [ edit ]. Mediation and peacekeeping role [ edit ]. Taiwan [ edit ]. See also: The Gambia—Taiwan relations. Human rights abuses [ edit ]. See also: April Gambian student massacre.

Disappearances and imprisonments [ edit ]. Main article: Gambian coup attempt. Sexual abuse and rape allegations [ edit ]. Terror [ edit ]. Exile [ edit ]. Personal life [ edit ]. Marriages [ edit ]. Religion [ edit ]. Titles and styles [ edit ]. Awards and honours [ edit ]. Foreign honours [ edit ]. Other awards and honours [ edit ]. Depiction on Gambian currency [ edit ].

See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. However, in a widely disputed move, parliament extended his presidential term for three months and he refused to relinquish power until 21 January when he was forced to step down after a regional military intervention. Adama Barrow nevertheless took his oath at the Gambian Embassy in Senegal on 19 January, as scheduled, after which much of the international community recognised him as the legitimate President.

References [ edit ]. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 25 December Freedom Newspaper. Archived from the original on 18 March Retrieved 13 March The New York Times. Retrieved 12 March The Point. Jollof News. Africa Development. XXV : — Department of State, 22 April Department of State, 4 March BBC News. Retrieved 9 October Committee to Protect Journalists.

Retrieved 17 March Retrieved 18 April Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on 20 April Amnesty International. Archived from the original on 29 April Retrieved 17 April PanAfrican News Agency. Retrieved 18 March Retrieved 26 November — via bbc. University of Minnesota Human Rights Library. Retrieved 20 February The Economist.

Retrieved 17 October The Guardian. ISSN Retrieved 5 December Retrieved 16 March Archived from the original on 23 December Retrieved 4 November Retrieved 26 November Archived from the original on 28 February Retrieved 14 March Archived from the original on 3 August Retrieved 24 March Archived from the original on 1 January