Ousainou Darboe (born 8 August 1948) is a Gambian politician and lawyer who serves as the National Assembly Minority Leader since April 2022. He previously served as Vice-President of the Gambia and Minister of Women's Affairs from June 2018 to March 2019, under President Adama Barrow. He also served as Barrow's Minister of Foreign Affairs from February 2017 to June 2018. Darboe is a human rights lawyer, and worked for the Attorney General's Chambers before entering private practice. He has served as advisor to several companies and government agencies, and was also for a time the vice president of the Gambia Bar Association. He founded the United Democratic Party (UDP) in 1996. It was the main opposition party under the rule of Yahya Jammeh, and Darboe himself stood in the 1996, 2001, and 2006 presidential elections. He was imprisoned in 2016, but released after Barrow's victory. Early life and education Darboe was born in 1948, the son of Numukunda Darboe, who served as a member of parliament for Lower Falluda West, and as communications secretary for Pierre Sarr N'Jie's United Party. Darboe attended Bansang Primary School and then proceeded to Banjul, where he studied at Saint Augustine High School and Gambia High School. Darboe was the recipient of a Commonwealth scholarship to study law at the University of Lagos in Nigeria. He also later studied a master's degree in law from the University of Ottawa, Canada. He is the first Gambian lawyer from the Mandinka ethnic group. Legal career Darboe was called to the Federal Bar of Nigeria in 1973 and returned to the Gambia in May 1973 to take up a role as a state prosecutor. He was called to the Gambian bar in November 1973, becoming the first Gambian lawyer from the Mandinka ethnic group. He then worked at the Attorney General's Chambers, firstly as a state counsel, then as acting registrar-general, and then as a legal draftsman, before resigning in 1980 in protests against the government's use of draconian legislation to suppress opposition. Darboe then entered a private practice, working as a human rights barrister. He founded Basansang Chambers in 1980. He was later joined as a senior partner by Neneh M.C. Cham and Lamin Darboe. Darboe is credited with having saved the lives of over 200 Gambians from the death penalty. Following the failed 1981 coup against Dawda Jawara's government, Darboe successfully defended many involved, including