Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh aka Yahya Alphonse Jemus Jebulai Jammeh. Commander In Chief of The Armed Forces, the Secretary of State for Defence and the Chief Custodian of the Sacred Constitution of The Gambia. Jammeh was born 25th May 1965 in Kanilai Village Foni Kansala District, Western Division Gambia. He joined the army in 1984 upon completing his secondary education at the Gambia high school. As a young army lieutenant and chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council, Jammeh took control of the Gambia in a military coup in July 1994. Two years later Jammeh was elected president , in September 1996, in widely criticized elections. He founded the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction as his political party. Jammeh won his third term in office with two thirds of the votes in September 2006. His main rival, Oussainou Darboe, is reported to have rejected the result, saying there had been widespread intimidation by local chiefs, governors and members of the security forces.However commonwealth observers said overt support for Jammeh from public officials during the run-up to the vote may have given him an unfair advantage.
Jammeh is married to Madam Zineb Yahya Jammeh. Zineb was born in Rabat, Morocco on the 5th October 1977 to Ambassador Soumah, a career diplomat from the distinguished Guinean Soumah family and Mrs. Soumah who hails from Morocco. Madam Jammeh was married to Jammeh in December 1998. The couple have one daughter, Maryam.Jammeh resume on the Gambia government website notes that he has special skills in that he possesses extensive knowledge in traditional herbal therapy especially in the treatment of Asthma and Epilepsy. In January 2007, Jammeh announced he had discovered a cure for HIV/AIDS. He made that announcement in front of a group of foreign diplomats, telling them the treatment was revealed to him by his ancestors in a dream.
Jammeh's treatment is free of charge and his healing powers for HIV/AIDS are only available to him on Thursdays.
Jammeh's treatment is free of charge and his healing powers for HIV/AIDS are only available to him on Thursdays. Jammeh claimed he could cure HIV/AIDS and asthma with natural herbs. Jammeh's family is said to have a history of healing people through traditional African medicine. Some patients are said to have improved through his treatment, but he has also been criticized for promoting unscientific treatment that could have dangerous results.The country representative of the United Nations development programme in The Gambia, Fadzai Gwaradzimba, was told to leave the country after she expressed doubts about the president's claims and said the remedy might encourage risky behaviour.
“Where we are today, Cuba was there 20 years ago. The best pilot for a route is the one who is very familiar with that route… If you are really interested in development, the alpha of it is health.”
The treatment involves several herbal treatments applied and consumed over a number of weeks and prayer from the Quran. His patients have to renounce alcohol, tea, coffee, theft and sex for the duration of their treatment. His patients are also advised to stop taking the anti-viral medication for his herbal treatments to take full effect. Jammeh's healing powers for HIV/AIDS are only available to him on Thursdays. He can only cure asthma on Saturdays. The western foreign trained Gynecologist Dr Tamsir Mbowe Minister of Health of the Gambia equally accolades and supports Jammeh's herbal treatment.
Jammeh has been accused of restricting freedom of the press. The laws in the Gambia as of 2004 provide that those found guilty of sedition or libel would serve long sentences for their comments. Jammeh is reported as having retorted of critical journalists that he believed in "giving each fool a long rope to hang themselves" and also threatened to bury them "six-feet deep." There are allegations that he was responsible for the unresolved killing of Deyda Hydara a critical reporter from the Gambia. Jammeh has denied that his security agent were involved in the killing. (Source Suite 101)
In his spare time Jammeh likes to indulge in his hobbies which include playing tennis, football, reading, hunting, riding motorcycles, browsing the internet, watching movies, agriculture and keenly following the world events.
WATCH JAMMEH HERBAL TREATMENT VIDEO INTERVIEW
Meet the President Yahya Jammeh May 2007 Part 1
Meet the President Yahya Jammeh May 2007 Part 2
MORE INFORMATION
Republic of the Gambia State House Online
The Quack in Gambia- African Despot 'Cures' AIDS
