Yankuba Drammeh is a Gambian military officer who is the current Chief of the Defence Staff in

the Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

Military career

At the time of the 1994 coup d'état, executed by Yahya Jammeh, Drammeh was a Second Lieutenant in the Gambian Army. Like many other officers not involved in the coup, he was detained in the Mile II Central Prison but later released and restored to his previous role. Drammeh was a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

and Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff prior to his dismissal from the army by Yahya Jammeh on 30 November 2009. He was arrested and detained while links to Lang Tombong Tamba's alleged attempted coup were explored. He was cleared of any wrongdoing and was re-instated on 2 December 2009 as a

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

in his previous role. In February 2010, he was reassigned from the military to the diplomatic service, first as Deputy Ambassador to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and then as Consul-General in New York. On 29 June 2015, Drammeh was again reinstated as a Major General and Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, filling a role that had been left vacant since the dismissal of Saikou Seckan in 2013. During the 2016 presidential election campaign, an editorial in ''The Gambia Echo'' noted the closeness of Drammeh to Jammeh's campaign, asking why critics were "totally oblivious to General Drammeh’s close proximity" to Jammeh. In March 2020, he was appointed as the CDS.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drammeh, Yankuba Living people Chiefs of the Defence Staff (The Gambia) Year of birth missing (living people)