There are 16 countries that are geographically listed as West African countries. These are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, the Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivorie), The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The current president of Benin has been in office since April 2006 and he is Thomas Yayi Boni. Burkina Faso's president is Blaise Compaore. He has been president since 1996, and prior to that was also the Head of State. Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires has been the president of Cape Verde since March 2001, and the current president of the Ivory Coast is Alassane Ouattara. He ran as joint president (co-claimant) from December 2010 to April 2011 alongside the previous president Laurent Gbagbo. The Office of the President is the highest position in The Gambia. HE Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh Naasiru Deen is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and the Chief Custodian of the Sacred Constitution of The Gambia. John Evans Atta Mills is the president of Ghana, and has been in post since January 2009. The president of Guinea since December 2010 has been Alpha Conde, and Rachide Sambu-Balde Malam Bacai Sanha has been the president of Guinea-Bissau since the previous president Joao Bernado Vieria was assassinated in 2009. Liberia's president is the first woman to be a president in the country. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been in power since 2006. Amadou Toumani Toure has been the president of Mali since June 2002, and Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the president of Mauritania, has been so since August 2009. The president of Niger since April 2011 is Mahamadou Issoufou, and since May 2010 Goodluck Johnson has been the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. Abdoulaye Wade is the president of Senegal, and the president of Sierra Leone is Ernest Bai Koroma, who has been in power since 2007. Faure Gnassingbe is the current president of Togo.