1996 and 1997 elections Jammeh won the
1996 presidential election as the APRC candidate, winning 56% of the vote and beating
Ousainou Darboe,
Hamat Bah and
Sidia Jatta. Darboe was forced to seek refuge in the Senegalese embassy in Banjul, fearing an assassination plot. In the
1997 parliamentary election, the first to the new National Assembly put in place by the 1996 constitution, the APRC won a majority of seats. However, these two elections, the first following the transition from military to civil rule, were "marred by provisions of the new, doctored constitution, an electoral commission appointed by Jammeh alone in 1995 and a political network that included the Green Boys – a now-disbanded vigilante group that was mobilised to intimidate the electorate to ensure Jammeh’s ‘victory’." Saine argues that this combination of intimidation and harassment of the opposition, an inherent bias provided by the 1996 constitution, as well as a distinct financial advantage, meant that "the presidential and national assembly elections were lost long before the first ballot was cast." Foreign observers did not deem these elections free and fair. despite some very serious shortcomings ranging from overt government intimidation of voters to technical innovations (such as raising the required deposit to stand for election by a factor of 25) to distort the process in favour of the incumbent regime. A coup attempt against Jammeh was reported to have been thwarted on 21 March 2006; Jammeh, who was in
Mauritania at the time, quickly returned home. Army chief of staff Col.
Ndure Cham, the alleged leader of the plot, reportedly fled to neighbouring
Senegal, while other alleged conspirators were arrested and were put on trial for treason. In April 2007, ten former officers accused of involvement were convicted and given prison sentences; four of them were sentenced to life in prison. 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. He was re-elected with 67.3% of the vote and was declared the winner of the election; the opposition candidate
Ousainou Darboe finished second, as in 2001. In November 2011, Jammeh was again re-elected as president for a fourth term in office, reportedly having received 72% of the popular vote.
Domestic policy Suppression of the press One of Jammeh's consistent targets throughout his time as President was the press and the media, as a whole as well as individual journalists. In 1998, the independent Citizen FM radio station was forced to close after a number of its staff were arrested and its equipment was confiscated. After its American proprietor sold it to a businessman with close ties to Jammeh in 1999,
The Daily Observer became notably pro-Jammeh. In August 2000, the anti-government Radio 1 FM suffered an arson attack. Abdoulaye Saine states that Jammeh was able to use
Gambia Radio & Television Service as his personal propaganda outlet whenever he required. Jammeh had made a number of public statements against the press. In July 2000, he said that "anybody bent on disturbing the peace and stability of the nation [should] be buried six feet deep." In response to his suppression of the press and media in the Gambia, various online newspapers and radio stations were established by self-exiled Gambian journalists to publicise alleged government atrocities. These include
Freedom Newspaper,
The Gambia Echo and
Gainako. Some pointed at the government, led by Jammeh, as the murderers, but it has remained unsolved. and, despite being ordered to release Manneh by an
ECOWAS court, the government denied that Manneh was still imprisoned. An unnamed police source said that he believed Manneh "is no longer alive".
Women's rights In 1999, Jammeh called those who campaigned against
female genital mutilation (FGM) "enemies of Islam". In December 2015, Jammeh banned FGM in the Gambia, labelling the practice 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. After the end of
Ramadan and
Eid ul-Fitr in July 2016, Jammeh further announced a ban on
child marriages. In 2016, some 30% of women were married while under the age of 18. Yahya Jammeh's response was that anyone caught marrying a girl under 18 years of age would be jailed for up to twenty years.
Judiciary As President, Jammeh had significant influence over the judiciary in the Gambia, particularly because Section 98 of the 1996 constitution permits the President to appoint judges directly. Saine argues that Jammeh's employment of judges mainly from other Commonwealth countries allowed him to effectively issue tough sentences to reduce dissent and to imprison both real and perceived threats to the president's power.
LGBT rights On 15 May 2008, 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. News reports indicated his government intended to execute all homosexuals in the country. On 18 February 2014, Jammeh called homosexuals "vermins" by saying that: "We will fight these called 'homosexuals' or 'gays' the same way we are fighting malaria-causing mosquitoes, if not more aggressively." He also 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". In May 2015, in defiance of Western criticism, Jammeh intensified his anti-gay rhetoric, telling a crowd during an agricultural tour: "If you do it [in the Gambia] I will slit your throat – if you are a man and want to marry another man in this country and we catch you, no one will ever set eyes on you again, and no white person can do anything about it." This prompted a fresh round of condemnation from international human rights leaders.
US National Security Advisor Susan Rice released a statement of condemnation on 16 May 2015: "We condemn his comments, and note these threats come amid an alarming deterioration of the broader human rights situation in the Gambia", said Rice. "We are deeply concerned about credible reports of torture, suspicious disappearances – including of two American citizens – and arbitrary detention at the government's hands".
HIV/AIDS policy In January 2007, Jammeh claimed he could cure
HIV/AIDS and
asthma with natural herbs. His claimed treatment program includes instructing patients to cease taking their anti-retroviral drugs. His 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. Fadzai Gwaradzimba, a representative of the
United Nations Development Programme in the Gambia, was told to leave the country after she expressed doubts about the claims and said the remedy might encourage risky behaviour. In August 2007, Jammeh claimed to have developed a single dose herbal infusion that could treat
high blood pressure. Jammeh has also claimed to develop a treatment for infertility in women as part of what is called the President's Alternative Treatment Program (PATP).
Foreign policy Senegal August and October 2005 saw a border feud with Senegal over increased ferry prices for crossings over the
Gambia River. Jammeh has a close relationship with
Jolas in the
Casamance region of
Senegal, who allowed him to "rule with impunity". In turn, Jammeh supported the rebels in the
Casamance conflict, by engaging in the trade of illegal drugs, small arms, and also money-laundering with the rebel groups. He sent a delegation to meet with Senegalese president
Macky Sall in early December 2012. The delegation's goal was to discuss a resolution to the ongoing civil unrest in Senegal's southern region of Casamance. Members of the delegation included the Minister of Presidential Affairs, the US ambassador to the Gambia, and members from the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Donations in 2012 included $2,563,138 to the National Youths Conference and Festival, and "two truckloads of turkey" to the Gambia Christian Council for delivery to the Christian community. Jammeh also bankrolled university education for the less privileged both in the Gambia and abroad.
Taiwan Taiwan was once the "financial lifeline" for Jammeh's regime, providing financial support as part of its campaign for international recognition at the
United Nations. However, Jammeh later cut ties with Taiwan.
Economic policy During his leadership over the
Republic of The Gambia, he advocated for a
liberal market economy, rather than a
mixed economy.
Human rights abuses 2000 shooting of students On 10 and 11 April 2000, the government was accused of the
killing of 14 students and a journalist during a student demonstration to protest the death of a student in the Gambia. Jammeh was accused of ordering the shooting of the students, but the government denied the allegations. A government commission of inquiry reportedly concluded that the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) officers were "largely responsible" for many of the deaths and other injuries. The commission also said that five soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Battalion were responsible for the deaths of two students at
Brikama. The government stated that the report implicated several PIU officers in the students' deaths and injuries, but those responsible were not prosecuted. According to defence and
National Intelligence Agency officials who testified to TRRC, these migrants were detained in the town of
Barra on 22 July 2005, and then tortured in various detention centers around Banjul. The bodies of eight of the migrants were found near
Ghana Town the following day, while two people escaped but disappeared on 24 July. The 40–45 survivors were
summarily executed in Senegal, across the southern border from Jammeh's hometown of Kanilai, except for one survivor. Ex-Junglers who testified attributed the execution orders to Jammeh himself. The Jammeh administration proceeded to cover up the incident from Ghana and ECOWAS. 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. These crimes were influenced by
Bissauguinean president
João Bernardo Vieira's assassination on 2 March 2009.
Disappearances and imprisonments Newspaper reports list dozens of individuals who have disappeared after being picked up by men in plain-clothes, and others who have languished under indefinite detention for months or years without charge or trial. The regional
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court ordered the Gambian government to produce one journalist who had disappeared. In April 2016, at least 50 people were arrested during a demonstration, and there were fears that
Solo Sandeng, an opposition politician, died alongside two others while being held in detention. In July 2016, a Gambian opposition leader and another 18 people were sentenced to three years in jail for participation in the April demonstration. A Gambian diplomat publicly denied that Sandeng had died in custody. Yahya Jammeh ran away and was out of the country, with sources differing on whether he was in
France or
Dubai. However, with the gunmen failing to consolidate control, the coup failed. Jammeh returned to Gambia the following day.
2016 election, crisis and ECOWAS intervention Ahead of the
2016 presidential election a number of opposition members, including United Democratic Party leader
Ousainou Darboe, were sentenced to three years in jail for staging pro-democracy protests. In a public address, Jammeh called members of the opposition "opportunistic people supported by the West," adding that "I will bow to only Allah and my mother. I will never tolerate opposition to destabilize this country." The election itself took place on 1 December 2016 and, in a surprise result, Jammeh was defeated by
Adama Barrow leading a coalition of opposition parties. At first, Jammeh stated that he would not contest the result. Although Jammeh initially conceded defeat, on 9 December 2016 he rejected the result citing "unacceptable abnormalities". He subsequently announced that he had annulled the result, pending a new vote. He then filed a petition with the
Supreme Court of the Gambia to contest the result. The court began hearing the case on 21 December. The
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) warned on 23 December that it would militarily intervene to uphold the results of the election if Jammeh didn't resign by 19 January. Jammeh appointed six new judges to the Supreme Court, having sacked all but one in 2015. The hearing was to be heard on 10 January, but was delayed until May. Jammeh stated that he would only relinquish the presidency if the court upheld the election result. The
African Union additionally stated that it would stop recognising Jammeh as president as of 19 January 2017. He attempted to have Barrow's inauguration blocked, but the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court refused to rule on the matter. On Tuesday 17 January, he declared a 90-day
state of emergency, prohibiting "acts of disobedience" and "acts intended to disturb public order". Various ministers resigned, and about 46,000 civilians (about 75% of whom were children) fled the country.
Senegal, which was selected by ECOWAS to lead the operation to remove Jammeh from his post, moved its troops closer to the border with the Gambia on 18 January. Jammeh was warned to step down by midnight. Jammeh refused to step down and the deadline passed. On 18 January, parliament voted to extend Jammeh's term by three months, while in parallel,
Adama Barrow was internationally recognised as president. On 19 January, Senegalese troops entered the Gambia. The
United Nations Security Council approved a
resolution backing Barrow while calling on Jammeh to step down. It backed ECOWAS' efforts to ensure that the results of the 2016 presidential election were respected by using political means first. Senegal halted its offensive, to allow mediation of the crisis one final time, with the invasion to proceed at noon on 20 January if Jammeh were to refuse to relinquish power. Jammeh again refused to step down and missed two deadlines on 20 January while regional leaders tried to persuade him to step down. During the early hours of 21 January, Jammeh announced on state television that he was stepping down from the post of president, and left the country later on the same day, travelling to
Guinea and then
Equatorial Guinea.
Sexual abuse and rape allegations Three women from Gambia accused the former president, Yahya Jammeh, of raping and sexually abusing them while still in office, as per rights advocacy group
Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International. According to ex-Gambian officials, women were pressured by presidential aides regularly to visit and work for Jammeh. One of the women is a Gambian pageant winner who has accused the ex-president of raping her. The victim,
Fatou "Toufah" Jallow said she met Jammeh when she was 18 years old after winning a beauty pageant in 2014. As per Jallow, in the months that followed, Jammeh asked her to marry him at a dinner organized by one of his aides. Later, Fatou was invited by the former president via his aide to attend a religious ceremony at the
State House. However, on her arrival the victim claims to have been taken to the president's private residence, where she was injected with a needle and "sodomized". In October 2019, Jallow testified before Gambia’s public
Truth and Reconciliation Commission about the rape charges.
Terror In 2018 the American treasury that designated Mohammad Ibrahim Bazzi as a terrorist and one of
Hezbollah financier, linked him to Jammeh. Since 1997 Hezbollah is designated by the US as a terrorist organization, a fact that did not prevent him from doing business with the militant group and to provide protection to its financiers. == Exile ==