The incumbent President, Yahya Jammeh, took power in a military coup in 1994 and remained the President through elections held in 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011. The coup led by Jammeh unseated Dawda Jawara, who had led The Gambia since independence in 1965. The 22 years of Jammeh's presidency were characterised by suppression of dissent, restrictions of freedom of the press, and many allegations of human rights violations. Jammeh also claimed to have cured various diseases such as &lt;a href="HIV/AIDS"&gt;HIV/AIDS&lt;/a&gt; and cancer with herbs, cracked down on sorcery in the nation, and prosecuted acts of homosexuality. In 2011, he said that, God willing, he could "rule for a billion years".