Central African Empire

The Central African Empire (French: Empire centrafricain) was a short-lived and self-proclaimed imperial one-party state ruled by an absolute monarch that replaced the Central African Republic and was, in turn, replaced by the restoration of the Republic. The empire was formed by and under the command of Marshal Jean-Bédel Bokassa, military dictator and president of the Central African Republic, on 4 December 1976.

Central African Empire

Empire centrafricain
1976–1979
Motto: "Unité, Dignité, Travail"
Anthem: "La Renaissance"
  •  
Capital
and largest city
Bangui
Official languageFrench
National language
Sango
Religion
Roman Catholicism (official)
Protestantism, Sunni Islam (minority)
GovernmentUnitary constitutional monarchy (de jure)
Unitary absolute monarchy under a one-party military dictatorship (de facto)
Emperor 
 1976–1979
Bokassa I
Prime Minister 
 1976–1978
Ange-Félix Patassé
 1978–1979
Henri Maïdou
Establishment
4 December 1976
4 December 1977
 Overthrow
21 September 1979
Area
 Total
622,984 km2 (240,535 sq mi)
CurrencyCentral African CFA franc
Today part ofCentral African Republic

Bokassa spent the equivalent of over US$20 million , a third of the country's government annual income, on his coronation ceremony. The monarchy was abolished (the most recent one ruled by an emperor) and the republic was restored on 21 September 1979, when Bokassa was ousted and replaced with David Dacko, with French support.[1]

History

Proclamation

Imperial Standard of Bokassa I.

In September 1976, Bokassa dissolved the government and replaced it with the Central African Revolutionary Council. On 4 December 1976, at the MESAN congress, Bokassa instituted a new constitution, converted back to Roman Catholicism—he had briefly become a Muslim earlier in the year—and declared the republic to be a monarchy: the "Central African Empire". He had himself crowned and styled himself "His Imperial Majesty" on 4 December 1977.

Bokassa's full title was "Emperor of Central Africa by the Will of the Central African People, United within the National Political Party, the MESAN". His regalia, lavish coronation ceremony, and régime were largely inspired by Napoléon I, who had converted the French First Republic, of which he was First Consul, into the First French Empire. The coronation ceremony was estimated to cost his country roughly US$20,000,000 – one-third of the country's budget and all of France's aid for that year.

Bokassa attempted to justify his actions by claiming that creating a monarchy would help Central Africa "stand out" from the rest of the continent, and earn the world's respect. Despite invitations, no foreign leaders attended the event. Many thought Bokassa was insane and compared his egotistical extravagance with that of Africa's other well-known eccentric dictator – Field Marshal Idi Amin.

It was claimed that the new empire would be a constitutional monarchy. However, in practice, Emperor Bokassa retained the dictatorial powers he had possessed as president, and MESAN remained the only legally permitted party. Thus, for all intents and purposes, the country was an absolute monarchy under a military dictatorship. Suppression of dissenters remained widespread, and torture was said to be especially rampant. It was subsequently proven at trial that Bokassa himself occasionally participated in beatings.

Overthrow

By January 1979, French support for Bokassa had eroded after riots in Bangui led to a massacre of civilians.[2] Between 17 and 19 April, a number of high school students were arrested after they had protested against wearing the expensive, government-required school uniforms; an estimated 100 were killed.[3][4]

Emperor Bokassa personally participated in the massacre, where he was reported beating some of the children to death with his own cane. The massive press coverage which followed the deaths of the students opened the way for a successful coup which saw French troops in Operation Barracuda restore former president David Dacko to power while Bokassa was away in Libya meeting with Gaddafi on 20 September 1979.

Bokassa's overthrow by the French government was called "France's last colonial expedition" by veteran French diplomat Jacques Foccart. François Mitterrand refused to have France intervene in this manner again.[5] Operation Barracuda began the night of 20 September and ended early the next morning. An undercover commando squad from the French intelligence agency SDECE, joined by the 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment led by Colonel Brancion-Rouge, landed by Transall C-160, and managed to secure Bangui M'Poko International Airport. Upon arrival of two more transport aircraft, a message was sent to Colonel Degenne to come in with eight Puma helicopters and Transall aircraft, which took off from N'Djaména military airport in neighbouring Chad.[6]

By 12:30 p.m. on 21 September 1979, the pro-French Dacko proclaimed the fall of the Central African Empire. David Dacko remained president until he was overthrown on 1 September 1981 by General André Kolingba.

Bokassa died on 3 November 1996 in the Central African Republic. In 2009, Jean-Serge Bokassa, who was seven years old when the Emperor was overthrown, stated his father's reign was "indefensible".[7]

International response

France's role

When Jean-Bédel Bokassa took control of the Central African Republic, the French president at the time, Charles de Gaulle, did not want to engage with the new leader, refusing to receive him and calling him a "bloody idiot[5]" After heavy advising from his chief of staff, Jacques Foccart, De Gaulle finally met Bokassa in 1969, three years after he came into power.[5] After Charles De Gaulle died and Georges Pompidou exited office, Valery Giscard took office in 1974. Giscard and Bokassa engaged correspondence and with Giscard's administration France and the Central African Empire become close allies.[8] When Bokassa declared that he was going to be hosting a coronation for himself as the emperor of the new Central African Empire, many of novelties that attributed to the luxurious event came from France. This included an imperial crown as well as a golden throne in the shape of an eagle. After various allegations against Bokassa including the beating of school children as well as cannibalism[9] France intervened with two operations that sought to remove Bokassa from office, the final one being Operation Barracuda.

President Valery Giscard

Valery Giscard became the president of France in May 1974,[10] where his relationship with Bokassa was more interactive than previous administrations. During his first visit to the country in 1970 Bokassa presented him with diamonds and ivory carvings.[8] Giscard advised Bokassa to avoid a ceremony to the scale of Napoleon due to the Central African Empire's financial situation and though Bokassa ignored Giscard's warning, Giscard was the first to congratulate Bokassa on the transition to Empire. Their relationship made news on 10 October 1979 when a newspaper named the Canard Enchaine broke a story about Bokassa giving thirty carats of diamonds to Giscard and accused him of giving Giscard a plethora of gifts on his visits to the empire. These included elephant tusks, ivory carved objects as well as precious stones estimated to be worth one million francs.[8] This scandal was later called "diamondgate"[8] or the Diamonds Affair scandal which later led to Giscard losing the presidency in the 1981 elections.[11]

Operation Barracuda

Operation Barracuda was initiated in 1979 after the death of several school children after a protest that was shut down with many students imprisoned in Ngaraba.[12] France severed ties with Bokassa, and began to plan his excommunication when the emperor began working with Muammar Gaddafi,[5] a Libyan politician. Operation Barracuda entailed French soldiers entering the Central African Republic[13] while Bokassa was on a trip to Libya and instating David Dacko, who had been exiled to Paris,[14] as the new leader. France cut off all humanitarian aid for media presence and then later sent French troops into Bangui, the nation's capital, to install David Dacko as the new leader.[14] Dacko stayed in a hotel in France, where he was exiled, awaiting the call to be transported into the nation as soon as Bokassa made himself unavailable.[14] Leaders from Chad, The Congo (then Zaire) all agreed to the idea as well as to aid the French in transport and military support for Operation Barracuda.[14] This operation's success effectively ended the Central African Empire and reintroduced the Central African Republic.

See also

Footnotes

  1. "Bokassa's ruined palace in CAR". BBC News. 8 February 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  2. Meredith 1997, p. 230.
  3. "AFRICA: Papa in the Dock". Time. 11 June 1979. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  4. Greene, B. (12 March 2012). "5 Most Notorious African Warlords, Jean-Bédel Bokassa". U.S. News. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  5. Carayannis, Tatiana, éditeur intellectuel. Lombard, Louisa, éditeur intellectuel. Making sense of the Central African Republic. ISBN 978-1-78360-381-7. OCLC 1004968881.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. Bokassa 2006, p. 32.
  7. Thomson, M. (2 January 2009). "'Good old days' under Bokassa?". BBC News. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  8. Cartwright, John; Titley, Brian (1998). "Dark Age: The Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokassa". Canadian Journal of African Studies. 32 (2): 433. doi:10.2307/486174. ISSN 0008-3968. JSTOR 486174.
  9. Melly, Paul (2 December 2013). "Why is France sending troops to Africa again?". Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  10. "Valéry Giscard d'Estaing | president of France". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  11. Reuters (11 March 1981). "France's President Says He Sold Bokassa Jewels". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  12. "Bokassa Successor Says Dictator Killed Children in April Massacre". The New York Times. 24 September 1979. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  13. French, Howard W. (4 November 1996). "Jean-Bedel Bokassa, 75, Ruled The Central African Republic". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  14. Baxter, Peter, 1962- (2011). France in Centrafrique: from Bokassa and Operation Barracuda to the days of EUFOR. Helion. ISBN 978-1-907677-37-3. OCLC 751804918.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Sources

  • Bokassa, J. (2006). Les diamants de la trahison (in French). Paris: Pharos. ISBN 9782756900742.
  • Crabb, J. C. (1978). "The Coronation of Emperor Bokassa". Afr. Today. 25 (3): 25–44. JSTOR 4185788.
  • Meredith, M. (1997). The State of Africa. New York: Free Press. ISBN 9780743268424.
  • Carayannis, Tatiana, and Lombard, Louisa. Making Sense of the Central African Republic. London: Zed Books, 2015.
  • Baxter, Peter. France in Centrafrique : From Bokassa and Operation Barracuda to the Days of EUFOR. Africa@War; v. 2. Solihull, West Midlands : Pinetown, South Africa: Helion ; 30° South Publishers, 2011.
  • Titley, E. Brian. Dark Age the Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokassa. Canadian Electronic Library. Canadian Publishers Collection. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1997.
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