SOURCE:REUTERS NEWS AGENCY

BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, a former wrestler and bird lover, said on Tuesday anyone aspiring to his job needed the patience of a vulture as he planned to rule for at least another three decades.

JAMMEH SAYS GAMBIANS SHOULD

EXPECT 30 YEARS APRC RULE. HE IS

FOLLOWING THE FOOT STEPS OF JAWARA

"Those who want to be president in this country, they have to wait like a vulture, patiently, for a very long time," Jammeh told a rally of his supporters weeks after what his government said was the latest in a string of coup attempts.

"They have to wait at least 30 years," he said, adding he would consider handing over power only once he had succeeded in his ambition of turning the tiny former British colony into an oil producer and a "role model for Africa".

Gambia produces peanuts but has not struck crude.

Jammeh, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1994, is expected to seek a third term in elections in October 2006. He opened his campaign for the 2001 vote by saying he had already won and threatening to shoot anyone who disrupted polling.

A group of senior military officers appeared on state television last month confessing to a plot to overthrow Jammeh after the authorities said they had uncovered a coup plan in its advanced stages.