Yahya Jammeh, president of The Gambia, surprised his critics by accepting defeat after 22 years in power- though he now says he will
contest the result. Known for walking around with his trademark prayer beads and a stick, he was reputed to be one of the world's most eccentric and ruthless leaders.Born in May 1965, he came to power in 1994 as a 29-year-old army lieutenant in a country portrayed in tourist brochures as an idyllic holiday destination. He became a portly president who portrays himself as a devout Muslim with miraculous powers, such as the power to cure people of Aids and infertility. He also believes that homosexuality threatens human existence.
Mr Jammeh divorced his first wife Tuti Faal and subsequently married two other women, though his official website refers only to Zineb Yahya Jammeh , who holds the title of First Lady.
According to The Gambia's privately owned Point newspaper, he married his second wife, Alima Sallah, in 2010, but Mr Jammeh's office issued an instruction that she should not be referred to as First Lady - in contrast to South Africa where all four wives of President Jacob Zuma hold the title.
"She is not to be addressed as the First Lady because, according to protocol, there can only be one First Lady and, in this case, that is Madam Zineb Yahya Jammeh," the newspaper quoted the presidency as saying. Mr Jammeh won four multiparty elections before he was finally defeated. After his 2011 victory, in a sign that his credibility
among African leaders had plummeted, the regional body, the Economic Community of West
African States (Ecowas), refused to endorse his victory, saying voters and the opposition had been "cowed by repression and intimidation". His decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth in 2013, which had been pushing for reforms in the tiny West African state, was a further sign of Mr Jammeh's growing isolation. 'Rule for a billion years' In an interview in 2011 with the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme, Mr Jammeh said he did not fear a fate similar to Libya's killed leader Muammar Gaddafi or Egypt's ousted President Hosni Mubarak. "My fate is in the hands of almighty Allah," he told the BBC. "I will deliver to the Gambian people and if I have to rule this country for one billion years, I will, if Allah says so." Mr Jammeh said he was not bothered by the criticism of human rights groups. "I will not bow down before anybody, except the almighty Allah and if they don't like that they can go to hell," he said.
'Executions'
Mr Jammeh is known for expressing bizarre views. In 2007, he claimed that he could cure Aids with a herbal concoction - a view condemned by health experts. Later, he also claimed that he could cure infertility among women.
Mr Jammeh is also known for his virulent opposition to gay rights, having once threatened to behead gay people.
In a 2014 address to the UN General Assembly, Mr Jammeh lamented that Western governments were pushing for homosexuality to be legalised.
"Homosexuality in all its forms and
manifestations which, though very evil, anti- human as well as anti-Allah, is being promoted as a human right by some powers," he said.
The Gambian government's treatment of journalists and opposition parties has also caused huge concern among human rights groups.
Mr Jammeh's government has been under intense pressure to solve the murder of the editor of The Point newspaper, Deyda Hydara. Gunned down in 2004, 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".
In the BBC interview, Mr Jammeh denied his security agents had killed Mr Hydara. "Other people have also died in this country. So
why is Deyda Hydara so special?" he said. BBC news
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