Yahya Abdul-Aziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh (Arabic: يحيى عبدالعزيز جيمس جنكنج جامع). is the president of Gambia. As a young army officer, he took power in a July 1994 military coup and was elected as President in 1996; he was re-elected in 2001, 2006, and 2011.

President Jammeh received a secondary school education in the Gambia, joined the Gambian National Army in 1984, was commissioned a Lieutenant in 1989, and in 1992 became commander of the Gambian Military Police. He received extensive military training in neighboring Senegal and at United States Army School of the Americas.^{[citation needed]}

On 22 July 1994, a group of young officers in the Gambian National Army seized power from President Dawda Jawara in a military coup by taking control of key facilities in the capital city, Banjul. The coup took place without bloodshed and met with very little resistance. The group identified itself as the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC). Jammeh, who was 29 years old at the time, was the chairman of the AFPRC. The AFPRC then suspended the constitution, sealed the borders, and implemented a curfew. While Jammeh's new government justified the coup by decrying corruption and lack of democracy under the Jawara regime, army personnel had also been dissatisfied with their salaries, living conditions, and prospects for promotion.