Jean-Bédel Bokassa

Jean-Bédel Bokassa ([ʒɑ̃ bedɛl bɔkasa]; 22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996), also known as Bokassa I, was a Central African political and military leader who served as the second president of the Central African Republic and as the emperor of its successor state, the Central African Empire, from his Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état on 1 January 1966 until overthrown in a subsequent coup in 1979.

Jean-Bédel Bokassa

Bokassa I
Bokassa in 1970
Emperor of Central Africa
Reign
4 December 1976 – 21 September 1979 (1976-12-04 – 1979-09-21)
Proclamation4 December 1976
Coronation4 December 1977
Overthrow21 September 1979
Preceded byHimself (as president)
Succeeded byDavid Dacko (as president)
Bokassa II (as heir apparent)
2nd President of the Central African Republic
In office
1 January 1966 – 4 December 1976 (1966-01-01 – 1976-12-04)
Coup d'état31 December 1965
Preceded byDavid Dacko
Succeeded byHimself (as emperor)
Personal details
Born(1921-02-22)22 February 1921
Bobangui, Ubangi-Shari, French Equatorial Africa
Died3 November 1996(1996-11-03) (aged 75)
Bangui, Central African Republic
Political partyMovement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa
Spouse(s)
Relations
Children
HouseBokassa
Civil awardsOrder of Central African Merit
Military service
Allegiance
  •  France
  •  Central Africa
Branch
Service years1939–1966
RankColonel
Wars
Military awards

Of this period, he served about 11 years as president and three years as self-proclaimed emperor of Central Africa, though the country was still a de facto military dictatorship. His imperial regime lasted from 4 December 1976 to 21 September 1979. Following his overthrow, the CAR was restored under his predecessor, David Dacko. Bokassa's imperial title did not achieve international diplomatic recognition.

In his trial in absentia, he was tried and sentenced to death. He returned to the Central African Republic in 1986 and was put on trial for treason and murder. In 1987, he was cleared of charges of cannibalism, but found guilty of the murder of schoolchildren and other crimes. The death sentence was later commuted to life in solitary confinement, but he was freed in 1993. He lived a private life in Bangui, and died in November 1996.

Early life

Bokassa was born on 22 February 1921, as one of 12 children to Mindogon Bokassa, a village chief, and his wife Marie Yokowo in Bobangui, a large Mbaka village in the Lobaye basin located at the edge of the equatorial forest, then a part of colonial French Equatorial Africa, some 80 kilometres (50 mi) southwest of Bangui.[1] Mindogon was forced to organise the rosters of his village people to work for the French Forestière company. After hearing about the efforts of a prophet named Karnu to resist French rule and forced labour,[2] Mindogon decided that he would no longer follow French orders. He released some of his fellow villagers who were being held hostage by the Forestière. The company considered this to be a rebellious act, so they detained Mindogon, and took him away bound in chains to Mbaïki.[1] On 13 November 1927, he was beaten to death in the town square just outside the prefecture office. A week later, Bokassa's mother, unable to bear the grief of losing her husband, committed suicide.[1][3]

Bokassa's extended family decided that it would be best if he received a French-language education at the École Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc, a Christian mission school in Mbaïki.[4] As a child, he was frequently taunted by his classmates about his orphanhood. He was short in stature and physically strong. In his studies, he became especially fond of a French grammar book by an author named Jean Bédel. His teachers noticed his attachment, and started calling him "Jean-Bédel."[4]

During his teenage years, Bokassa studied at École Saint-Louis in Bangui, under Father Grüner. Grüner educated Bokassa with the intention of making him a priest, but realized that his student did not have the aptitude for study or the piety required for this occupation. He then studied at Father Compte's school in Brazzaville, where he developed his abilities as a cook. After graduating in 1939, Bokassa took the advice offered to him by his grandfather, M'Balanga, and Father Grüner, by joining the Troupes coloniales (French colonial troops) as a tirailleur on 19 May 1939.[4]

Military career
Bokassa in 1939

While serving in the Second bataillon de marche, Bokassa became a corporal in July 1940, and a sergeant major in November 1941.[5] After the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, Bokassa served with an African unit of the Free French Forces and took part in the capture of the Vichy government's capital at Brazzaville. On 15 August 1944, he participated in the Allied forces’ landing in Provence, France, in Operation Dragoon, and fought in southern France and in Germany in early 1945, before Nazi Germany was toppled. He remained in the French Army after the war, studying radio transmissions at an army camp in the French coastal town of Fréjus.[5]

Afterwards, he attended officer training school in Saint-Louis, Senegal. On 7 September 1950, Bokassa headed to Indochina as the transmissions expert for the battalion of Saigon-Cholon.[6] Bokassa saw some combat during the First Indochina War before his tour of duty ended in March 1953. For his exploits in battle, he was honored with membership of the Légion d'honneur, and was decorated with Croix de guerre.[7] During his stay in Indochina, he married a 17-year-old Vietnamese girl named Nguyễn Thị Huệ. After Hué bore him a daughter, Bokassa had the child registered as a French national. Bokassa left Indochina without his wife and child, as he believed he would return for another tour of duty in the near future.[8]

Upon his return to France, Bokassa was stationed at Fréjus, where he taught radio transmissions to African recruits. In 1956, he was promoted to second lieutenant, and two years later to lieutenant.[9] Bokassa was then stationed as a military technical assistant in December 1958 in Brazzaville, and in 1959 after a twenty-year absence he was posted back to his homeland in Bangui. He was promoted to the rank of captain on 1 July 1961.[9] The French colony of Ubangi-Chari, part of French Equatorial Africa, had become a semi-autonomous territory of the French Community in 1958 and then an independent nation as the Central African Republic on 13 August 1960.

On 1 January 1962, Bokassa left the French Army and joined the Central African Armed Forces with the rank of battalion commandant under then commander-in-chief Mgboundoulou.[10] As a cousin of the CAR President David Dacko and nephew of Dacko's predecessor Barthélémy Boganda, Bokassa was given the task of creating the new country's military. Over a year later, Bokassa became commander-in-chief of the 500 soldiers in the Central African Army. Due to his relationship to Dacko and experience abroad in the French military, Bokassa was able to quickly rise through the ranks of the new national army, becoming the Central African Army's first colonel on 1 December 1964.[11]

Bokassa sought recognition for his status as leader of the army. He frequently appeared in public wearing all his military decorations, and in ceremonies, he often sat next to President Dacko to display his importance in the government.[12] Bokassa frequently got into heated arguments with Jean-Paul Douate, the government's chief of protocol, who admonished him for not following the correct order of seating at presidential tables. At this time Mgboundoulou no longer advocated his status as leader of the army. At first, Dacko found his cousin's antics amusing.[12] Despite the number of recent military coups in Africa, Dacko publicly dismissed the likelihood that Bokassa would try to take control of the country. At an official dinner, he said, "Colonel Bokassa only wants to collect medals and he is too stupid to pull off a coup d'état".[13]

Other members of Dacko's cabinet believed that Bokassa was a genuine threat to the regime. Jean-Arthur Bandio, the minister of interior, suggested Dacko name Bokassa to the Cabinet, which he hoped would both break the colonel's close connections with the CAR army and satisfy the colonel's desire for recognition.[12] To combat the chance that Bokassa would stage a coup, Dacko created the gendarmerie, an armed police force of 500 and a 120-member presidential security guard, led by Jean Izamo and Prosper Mounoumbaye, respectively.[12]

Rising tensions

Dacko's government faced a number of problems during 1964 and 1965: the economy experienced stagnation, the bureaucracy started to fall apart, and the country's boundaries were constantly breached by Lumumbists from the south and the rebel Anyanya from the east.[14] Under pressure from political radicals in the Mouvement pour l'évolution sociale de l'Afrique noire (Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa or MESAN) and in an attempt to cultivate alternative sources of support and display his ability to make foreign policy without the help of the French government, Dacko established diplomatic relations with Mao Zedong's People's Republic of China (PRC) in September 1964.[14]

A delegation led by Meng Yieng and agents of the Chinese government toured the country, showing communist propaganda films. Soon after, the PRC gave the CAR an interest-free loan of one billion CFA francs (20 million French francs[15]). The aid failed to subdue the prospect of a financial collapse for the country.[14] Widespread political corruption by government officials and politicians added to the country's list of problems.[16] Bokassa felt that he needed to take over the CAR government to solve all the country's problems—most importantly, to rid the country from the influence of communism. According to Samuel Decalo, a scholar of African government, Bokassa's personal ambitions played the most important role in his decision to launch a coup against Dacko.[17]

Dacko sent Bokassa to Paris as part of the country's delegation for the Bastille Day celebrations in July 1965. After attending the celebrations and a 23 July ceremony to mark the closing of a military officer training school he had attended decades earlier, Bokassa decided to return to the CAR. However, Dacko forbade his return,[14] and the infuriated Bokassa spent the next few months trying to obtain supporters from the French and Central African armed forces, who he hoped would force Dacko to reconsider his decision. Dacko eventually yielded to pressure and allowed Bokassa back in October 1965. Bokassa claimed that Dacko finally gave up after French President Charles de Gaulle had personally told Dacko that "Bokassa must be immediately returned to his post. I cannot tolerate the mistreatment of my companion-in-arms".[18]

Tensions between Dacko and Bokassa continued to escalate in the coming months. In December, Dacko approved an increase in the budget for Izamo's gendarmerie, but rejected the budget proposal Bokassa had made for the army.[19] At this point, Bokassa told friends he was annoyed by Dacko's mistreatment and was "going for a coup d'état".[13] Dacko planned to replace Bokassa with Izamo as his personal military adviser, and wanted to promote army officers loyal to the government, while demoting Bokassa and his close associates.[19]

Dacko did not conceal his plans. He hinted at his intentions to elders of the Bobangui village, who in turn informed Bokassa of the plot. Bokassa realized he had to act against Dacko quickly, and worried that his 500-man army would be no match for the gendarmerie and the presidential guard.[19] He was also overwrought over the possibility that the French would come to Dacko's aid after the coup d'état, as had occurred after one in Gabon against President Léon M'ba in February 1964. After receiving word of the coup from the country's vice president, officials in Paris sent paratroopers to Gabon in a matter of hours and M'Ba was quickly restored to power.[19]

Bokassa received substantive support from his co-conspirator, Captain Alexandre Banza, who commanded the Camp Kassaï military base in northeast Bangui, and, like Bokassa, had been stationed with the French army around the world. Banza was an intelligent, ambitious and capable man who played a major role in the planning of the coup.[19] By December, many people began to anticipate the political turmoil that would soon engulf the country. Dacko's personal advisers alerted him that Bokassa "showed signs of mental instability" and needed to be arrested before he sought to bring down the government, but Dacko did not heed these warnings.[19]

Coup d'état
Main article: Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état

Dacko left the Palais de la Renaissance early in the evening of 31 December 1965, to visit one of his ministers' plantations southwest of Bangui.[19] An hour and a half before midnight, Captain Banza gave orders to his officers to begin the coup.[20] Bokassa called Izamo at his headquarters and asked him to come to Camp de Roux to sign some documents that needed his immediate attention. Izamo, who was at a New Year's Eve celebration with friends, reluctantly agreed and travelled to the camp. Upon arrival, he was confronted by Banza and Bokassa, who informed him of the coup in progress. After declaring his opposition to the coup, Izamo was taken by the coup plotters to an underground cellar.[20]

Around midnight, Bokassa, Banza, and their supporters left Camp de Roux to take over the capital.[20] After seizing the capital in a matter of hours, Bokassa and Banza rushed to the Palais de la Renaissance in order to arrest Dacko. Dacko was nowhere to be found. Bokassa panicked, believing the president had been warned of the coup in advance, and immediately ordered his soldiers to search for Dacko in the countryside until he was found.[20]

Dacko was arrested by soldiers patrolling Pétévo Junction, on the western border of the capital. He was taken back to the presidential palace, where Bokassa hugged the president and told him, "I tried to warn you—but now it's too late."[21] President Dacko was taken to Ngaragba Prison in east Bangui at around 02:00 WAT (01:00 UTC). In a move that he thought would boost his popularity in the country, Bokassa ordered prison director Otto Šacher to release all prisoners in the jail. Bokassa then took Dacko to Camp Kassaï, where he forced the president to resign.[21]

In the morning, Bokassa addressed the public via Radio Bangui: "This is Colonel Bokassa speaking to you. At 3 a.m. this morning, your army took control of the government. The Dacko government has resigned. The hour of justice is at hand. The bourgeoisie is abolished. A new era of equality among all has begun. Central Africans, wherever you may be, be assured that the army will defend you and your property ... Long live the Central African Republic![21]

Early years of regime
Bokassa with Nicolae Ceaușescu

In the early days of his regime, Bokassa engaged in self-promotion before the local media, showing his countrymen his French army medals, and displaying his strength, fearlessness and masculinity.[22] He formed a new government called the Revolutionary Council, invalidated the constitution and dissolved the National Assembly.[23] He called it "a lifeless organ no longer representing the people".[22]

In his address to the nation, Bokassa claimed that the government would hold elections in the future, a new assembly would be formed, and a new constitution would be written. He also told his countrymen that he would give up his power after the communist threat had been eliminated, the economy stabilized, and corruption rooted out.[24] President Bokassa allowed MESAN to continue functioning. All other political organizations were barred from the country.[25]

In the coming months, Bokassa imposed a number of new rules and regulations: men and women between the ages of 18 and 55 had to provide proof that they had jobs, or else they would be fined or imprisoned.[25] Begging was banned. Tom-tom playing was allowed only during the nights and weekends. A "morality brigade" was formed in the capital to monitor bars and dance halls. Polygamy, dowries, and female circumcision were all abolished. Bokassa also opened a public transport system in Bangui made up of three interconnected bus lines through the capital city as well as a ferry service on the Ubangi River, and subsidized the creation of two national orchestras.[25]

Despite the changes in the country, Bokassa had difficulty obtaining international recognition for his new government. He tried to justify the coup by explaining that Izamo and communist Chinese agents were trying to take over the government and that he had to intervene to save the CAR from the influence of communism.[26] He alleged that Chinese agents in the countryside had been training and arming locals to start a revolution, and on 6 January 1966, he dismissed the communist agents from the country and cut off diplomatic relations with China. Bokassa also believed that the coup was necessary in order to prevent further corruption in the government.[26]

Bokassa first secured diplomatic recognition from President François Tombalbaye of neighbouring Chad, whom he met in Bouca, Ouham. After Bokassa reciprocated by meeting Tombalbaye on 2 April 1966, along the southern border of Chad at Fort Archambault, the two decided to help one another if either was in danger of losing power.[27] Soon after, other African countries began to diplomatically recognize the new government. At first, the French government was reluctant to support the Bokassa regime, so Banza went to Paris to meet with French officials to convince them that the coup was necessary to save the country from turmoil. Bokassa met with Prime Minister Georges Pompidou on 7 July 1966, but the French remained noncommittal in offering their support.[27] After Bokassa threatened to withdraw from the franc monetary zone, President Charles de Gaulle decided to make an official visit to the CAR on 17 November 1966. To the Bokassa regime, this visit meant that the French had finally accepted the new changes in the country.[27]

Threat to power

Bokassa and Banza had a major argument over the country's budget, as Banza adamantly opposed the president's extravagant spending. Bokassa moved to Camp de Roux, where he felt he could safely run the government without having to worry about Banza's thirst for power.[28] In the meantime, Banza tried to obtain a support base within the army, spending much of his time in the company of soldiers. Bokassa recognized what his minister was doing, so he sent military units most sympathetic to Banza to the country's border and brought his own army supporters as close to the capital as possible. In September 1967, he took a special trip to Paris, where he asked for protection from French troops. Two months later, the French government deployed 80 paratroopers to Bangui.[28]

On 13 April 1968, in another one of his frequent cabinet reshuffles, Bokassa demoted Banza to minister of health, but let him remain in his position as minister of state. Cognizant of the president's intentions, Banza increased his vocalization of dissenting political views.[29] A year later, after Banza made a number of remarks highly critical of Bokassa and his management of the economy, the president, perceiving an immediate threat to his power, removed him as his minister of state.[29] Banza revealed his intention to stage a coup to Lieutenant Jean-Claude Mandaba, the commanding officer of Camp Kassaï, whom he looked to for support. Mandaba went along with the plan, but his allegiance remained with Bokassa.[29]

When Banza contacted his co-conspirators on 8 April 1969, informing them that they would execute the coup the following day, Mandaba immediately phoned Bokassa and informed him of the plan. When Banza entered Camp Kassaï on 9 April, he was ambushed by Mandaba and his soldiers. The men had to break Banza's arms before they could overpower and throw him into the trunk of a Mercedes and take him directly to Bokassa.[29] At his house in Berengo, Bokassa nearly beat Banza to death before Mandaba suggested that Banza be put on trial for appearance's sake.[30]

On 12 April, Banza presented his case before a military tribunal at Camp de Roux, where he admitted to his plan, but stated that he had not planned to kill Bokassa.[31] He was sentenced to death by firing squad, taken to an open field behind Camp Kassaï, executed and buried in an unmarked grave.[30] The circumstances of Banza's death have been disputed. The American newsmagazine, Time, reported that Banza "was dragged before a Cabinet meeting where Bokassa slashed him with a razor. Guards then beat Banza until his back was broken, dragged him through the streets of Bangui and finally shot him."[32]

The French daily evening newspaper Le Monde reported that Banza was killed in circumstances "so revolting that it still makes one's flesh creep":

Two versions concerning the end circumstances of his death differ on one minor detail. Did Bokassa tie him to a pillar before personally carving him with a knife that he had previously used for stirring his coffee in the gold-and-midnight blue Sèvres coffee set, or was the murder committed on the cabinet table with the help of other persons? Late that afternoon, soldiers dragged a still identifiable corpse, with the spinal column smashed, from barrack to barrack to serve as an example.[33]

Rule during the 1970s

In 1971, Bokassa promoted himself to full general, and on 4 March 1972 declared himself president for life.[34] He survived another coup attempt in December 1974. The following month, on 2 January, he relinquished the position of prime minister to Elisabeth Domitien, who became the first woman to hold the position.[35] He had earlier appointed the CAR's first female government minister, Marie-Joséphe Franck, in February 1970.[36] Over time, Bokassa's domestic and foreign policies became increasingly unpredictable, leading to another assassination attempt at Bangui M'Poko International Airport in February 1976.[35]

Foreign support

The Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi aided Bokassa.[37] France also lent support. In 1975, the French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing declared himself a "friend and family member" of Bokassa. By that time France supplied its former colony's regime with financial and military backing. In exchange, Bokassa frequently took Giscard on hunting trips in Central Africa and supplied France with uranium, which was vital for France's nuclear energy and weapons program in the Cold War era. Bokassa restored ties with PRC and visited China in 1976.[38][39]

The "friendly and fraternal" cooperation with France—according to Bokassa's own terms—reached its peak with the imperial coronation ceremony of Bokassa I on 4 December 1977.[40] The French Defence Minister sent a battalion to secure the ceremony; he also lent 17 aircraft to the new Central African Empire's government, and even assigned French Navy personnel to support the orchestra. The coronation ceremony lasted for two days and cost 10 million GBP, more than the annual budget of the Central African Republic.[41] The ceremony was organized by French artist Jean-Pierre Dupont. Parisian jeweller Claude Bertrand made his crown, which included diamonds. Bokassa sat on a two-ton throne modeled in the shape of a large eagle made from solid gold.[42]

On 10 October 1979, the French Canard Enchaîné satirical newspaper reported that President Bokassa had offered the then Minister of Finance Giscard two diamonds in 1973.[43][44] This soon became a major political scandal known as the Diamonds Affair, which contributed significantly to Giscard's losing his reelection bid in 1981. The Franco-Central African relationship drastically changed when France's Renseignements Généraux intelligence service learned of Bokassa's willingness to become a partner of Gaddafi.

After a meeting with Gaddafi in September 1976, Bokassa converted to Islam and changed his name to Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa, but in December 1976 he converted back to Catholicism. It is presumed that his conversion to Islam was a ploy calculated to ensure ongoing Libyan financial aid.[45] When no funds promised by Gaddafi were forthcoming, Bokassa abandoned his new faith—which was also incompatible with his plans to be crowned emperor in the Catholic cathedral in Bangui.

Proclamation of empire
Imperial standard

In September 1976, Bokassa dissolved the government and replaced it with the Conseil de la Révolution Centrafricaine (Central African Revolutionary Council). On 4 December 1976, at the MESAN congress, Bokassa converted back to Catholicism and instituted a new constitution that transformed the republic into the Central African Empire (CAE), with himself as "His Imperial Majesty" Bokassa I. Bokassa was formally crowned on 4 December 1977[35] at 10:43am.

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 and regime of the newly formed Central African Empire were largely inspired by Napoleon, who had converted the French Revolutionary Republic of which he was First Consul into the First French Empire. The coronation was estimated to cost his country roughly $US20 million – one third of the CAE's annual budget and all of France's aid money for that year.[35]

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 generous invitations, no foreign leaders attended the event. By this time, many people inside and outside the CAE thought Bokassa was insane. The Western press, mostly in France, the UK, and USA, considered him a laughing stock, and often compared his eccentric behavior and egotistical extravagance with that of another well-known eccentric African dictator, Idi Amin of Uganda. Tenacious rumors that he occasionally consumed human flesh were found unproven during his eventual trial.

Bokassa claimed that the new empire would be a constitutional monarchy. In practice, however, he retained the same dictatorial powers he had held as president, and the country remained a military dictatorship. Suppression of dissenters remained widespread, and torture was said to be especially rampant. Rumours abounded that Bokassa himself occasionally participated in beatings and executions.

Overthrow

Repression

By January 1979, French support for Bokassa had all but eroded after food riots in Bangui led to a massacre of civilians.[46] The final straw came between 17 and 19 April, when a large number of elementary school students in Bangui and elsewhere in the country were arrested after they had protested against paying for and wearing the expensive, government-required school uniforms with Bokassa's image on them. Around 100 children were killed.[47] Bokassa allegedly participated in the massacre, appearing at the jail and beating some of the children to death with his cane.

The massive worldwide press coverage which followed the deaths of the students opened the way for a successful coup which saw French troops invade the Central African Empire and restore former president David Dacko to power, while Bokassa fled into exile by airplane to Ivory Coast on 20 September 1979.

Operations Caban and Barracuda

Operation Caban began on the evening of 20 September, and ended early the next morning as the first phase of Bokassa's overthrow. An undercover commando squad from the French intelligence agency SDECE, joined by the 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, and secured Bangui M'Poko International Airport with little resistance.

Upon arrival of two more French military transport aircraft containing over 300 French troops, a message was then sent by Colonel Brancion-Rouge to Colonel Degenne to trigger the second phase known as Operation Barracuda to have him come in with his helicopters and aircraft. These aircraft took off from N'Djamena military airport in neighbouring Chad to occupy the capital city as a peace-securing intervention.[48]

Fall of the empire
Main article: 1981 Central African Republic coup d'état

By 00:30 on 21 September 1979, the pro-French Dacko proclaimed the fall of the Central African Empire and the restoration of the Central African Republic under his presidency. David Dacko remained president until he was overthrown on 1 September 1981 by André Kolingba. Bokassa, who was visiting Libya on a state visit at the time, fled to Ivory Coast where he spent four years living in Abidjan. He then moved to France where he was allowed to settle in his Chateau d'Hardricourt in the suburb of Paris. France gave him political asylum because of his service in the French military.[35]

During Bokassa's seven years in exile, he wrote his memoirs after complaining that his French military pension was insufficient. But the French courts ordered that all 8,000 copies of the book be confiscated and destroyed after his publisher claimed that Bokassa said that he shared women with President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had been a frequent guest in the Central African Republic. Bokassa's presence in France proved embarrassing to many government ministers who had supported him during his rule.

Bokassa owned the Château du Grand Chavanon, a historic chateau in Neuvy-sur-Barangeon, France from the 1970s to 1995.[49] He rented it to the Cercle national des combattants, a non-profit organization run by National Front politician Roger Holeindre from 1986 to 1995, when the Cercle purchased it from Bokassa.[49]

Later life

Exile and return

Bokassa had been tried and sentenced to death in absentia in December 1980 for the murder of numerous political rivals.[50] He returned from exile in France on 24 October 1986. Bokassa was immediately arrested by the Central African authorities as soon as he stepped off the plane and was tried for 14 different charges, including treason, murder, cannibalism, illegal use of property, assault and battery, and embezzlement. Now that Bokassa was unexpectedly in the hands of the Central African Republic government, they were required by law to try him in person, granting him the benefit of defence counsel. At Bokassa's court arraignment, the in absentia 1980 verdict was overturned and a new trial was ordered for him. Bokassa pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.[51]

Trial

Bokassa's trial began on 15 December 1986, taking place in the Palais de Justice in Bangui. Bokassa hired two French lawyers, François Gilbault and Francis Szpiner, who faced a panel modelled on the French legal system, composed of six jurors and three judges, presided over by High Court Judge Edouard Franck. The trial by jury of a former head of state was unprecedented in the history of post-colonial Africa, where former dictators had previously been tried and executed following show trials.[51]

In another regional innovation, access to the trial was granted to the public; this meant that the courtroom was constantly filled with standing-room-only spectators. There were live French-language broadcasts by Radio Bangui and local TV news crews broadcast all over the country, as well as neighbouring French-speaking African countries. The trial was listened to and watched by many in the Central African Republic and in neighbouring countries who had access to a radio or TV set.[51]

The prosecutor was Gabriel-Faustin M'Boudou, the Chief Prosecutor of the CAR, who called various witnesses to testify against Bokassa, which included remembering victims ranging from political enemies to a newborn son of a palace guard commander who had been executed for attempting to kill Bokassa in 1978 when he was the self-proclaimed emperor. A hospital nurse testified that Bokassa was said to have killed the delivered child with an injection of poison.

Next, testimony came from 27 teenagers and young adults who claimed to be former school children who testified as being the only survivors of the 180 children arrested in April 1979. The arrests came after the children threw rocks at Bokassa's passing Rolls-Royce during protests over wearing the costly school uniforms which they were forced to purchase from a factory (supposedly owned by one of the former leader's wives). Several of them testified that on their first night in jail, Bokassa visited the prison and screamed at the children for their insolence. He was said to have ordered the prison guards to club the children to death, and Bokassa participated, smashing the skulls of at least five children with his ebony walking stick.

Throughout the trial, Bokassa denied all the charges against him. He attempted to shift the blame away from himself to wayward members of his former cabinet and the army for any misdeeds that might have occurred during his reign as both president and emperor. Testifying in his own defence, Bokassa stated: "I'm not a saint. I'm just a man like everyone else." As testimony against him mounted, he gave away at several times his legendary short temper. Bokassa once stood up and raged at chief prosecutor M'Boudou: "The aggravating thing about all this is that it's all about Bokassa, Bokassa, Bokassa! I have enough crimes levelled against me without you blaming me for all the murders of the last 21 years!"

One of the most lurid allegations against Bokassa was that of cannibalism. In the Central African Republic, statutes forbidding cannibalism classified any crime of eating human remains as a misdemeanour. Upon seizing power from David Dacko in 1981, the current President André Kolingba had declared amnesty for all misdemeanours committed during the tenure of his predecessors. Bokassa could not be charged or convicted with the crime, even if there was evidence of guilt. The cannibalism charges against him were brought from old indictments in 1980 that resulted in his conviction in absentia, a year before Kolingba's amnesty, so the anthropophagy charge remained listed among Bokassa's crimes.

Former president Dacko was called to the witness stand to testify that he had seen photographs of butchered bodies hanging in the dark cold-storage rooms of Bokassa's palace immediately after the 1979 coup. When the defence put up a reasonable doubt during the cross-examination of Dacko that he could not be positively sure if the photographs he had seen were of dead bodies to be used for consumption, Bokassa's former security chief of the palace was called to testify that he had cooked human flesh stored in the walk-in freezers and served it to Bokassa on an occasional basis. The prosecution did not examine the rumours that Bokassa had served the flesh of his victims to French President Giscard and other visiting dignitaries.

The government prosecutors hired Bernard Jouanneau, a French lawyer to investigate as well as recover some of the millions of CAR francs that Bokassa had diverted from the national treasury and from both social and charity funds for his own personal use in the embezzlement charges. Late in the trial, Bokassa's lawyers tried to bar Jouanneau from testifying.

On 12 June 1987, Bokassa was acquitted on charges of cannibalism, but found guilty on all of the other charges. The court acknowledged that many individual allegations of murder had been levelled at Bokassa but found that the evidence was unimpeachable in only about 20 cases. Bokassa was said to have wept silently as Judge Franck sentenced him to death. Szpiner and Gibault appealed the verdict for a retrial on the grounds that the Central African Republic's constitution allowed a former head of state to be charged only with treason. The CAR supreme court rejected the appeal.[52]

Imprisonment and release

On 29 February 1988, President Kolingba demonstrated his opposition to capital punishment by voiding the death penalty against Bokassa and commuted his sentence to life in prison in solitary confinement, and the following year reduced the sentence to 20 years.[53][54] With the return of democracy to the Central African Republic in 1993, Kolingba declared a general amnesty for all prisoners as one of his final acts as President, and Bokassa was released on 1 August 1993.

Bokassa remained in the CAR for the rest of his life. In 1996, as his health declined, he proclaimed himself the 13th Apostle and claimed to have secret meetings with the Pope.[55] Bokassa died of a heart attack on 3 November 1996 at his home in Bangui at the age of 75. He had 17 wives, one of whom was Marie-Reine Hassen, and a reported 50 children, three of whom included Jean-Bédel Bokassa Jr., Jean-Serge Bokassa, and Kiki Bokassa.

Legacy

In 2010, President François Bozizé issued a decree rehabilitating Bokassa and calling him "a son of the nation recognised by all as a great builder".[56] The decree went on to hold that "This rehabilitation of rights erases penal condemnations, particularly fines and legal costs, and stops any future incapacities that result from them".[56] In the lead-up to this official rehabilitation, Bokassa has been praised by CAR politicians for his patriotism and for the periods of stability that he brought the country.[56]

Titles, styles and honours

Style

His Imperial Majesty Bokassa the First, Apostle of Peace and Servant of Jesus Christ, Emperor and Marshal of Central Africa[55]

National dynastic honours
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Imperial Order of Bokassa
  • Sovereign Knight Grand Cordon of the Imperial Order of Central African Merit
  • Sovereign Knight Commander of the Imperial Order of Agricultural Merit, 1st Class
  • Sovereign Knight of the Imperial Decoration of Recognition, 1st Class

Foreign honours
Cameroon
Grand Cross of the Order of Valour
Chad
Grand Cross of the National Order of Chad
Congo
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit
Egypt
Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the Nile
France
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
Military Medal
Croix de guerre 1939–1945
Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures
Volunteer Combatant Cross Medal of 1939-1945
Volunteer Combatant Resistance Cross Medal
Overseas Medal
Free France Voluntary Service Commemorative Medal
1939–1945 Commemorative War Medal
Indochina Campaign Commemorative Medal
Gabon
Grand Cross of the Order of the Equatorial Star
Ivory Coast
Grand Cross of the National Order of the Ivory Coast
Madagascar
Grand Cross of the Order of the Republic
Morocco
Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite
Libya
Grand Cross of the Order of the Republic
Senegal
Grand Cross of the National Order of the Lion
Sudan
Grand Cross of the Order of the Two Niles
Togo
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit
Tunisia
Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Independence
Yugoslavia
Grand Cross of the Order of the Yugoslav Star
Zaire
Grand Cross of the National Order of the Leopard

References

Citations
  1. Titley 1997, p. 7.
  2. Titley 1997, p. 6.
  3. Appiah & Gates 1999, p. 278.
  4. Titley 1997, p. 8.
  5. Titley 1997, p. 9.
  6. Delpey 1981, pp. 166–167.
  7. Lloyd Garrison (7 January 1966). "Coups, Dahomey Style". New York Times. p. 2.
  8. Titley 1997, pp. 9–10.
  9. Titley 1997, p. 10.
  10. Titley 1997, p. 23, a rank equivalent to major.
  11. Bokassa 1985, p. 21.
  12. Titley 1997, p. 24.
  13. Péan 1977, p. 15.
  14. Titley 1997, p. 25.
  15. van de Walle, Nicholas (July 1991), "The Decline of the Franc Zone: Monetary Politics in Francophone Africa", African Affairs, Oxford University Press, 90 (360): 383–405, doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098439, JSTOR 722938
  16. Lee 1969, p. 100.
  17. Decalo 1973, p. 220.
  18. Bokassa 1985, p. 24.
  19. Titley 1997, p. 26.
  20. Titley 1997, p. 27.
  21. Titley 1997, p. 28.
  22. Titley 1997, p. 33.
  23. "Army Chief of Staff Seizes Power in Upper Volta. Deposed President Asserts He 'Rejoices' at Coup Curfew Is Continued". Associated Press in the New York Times. 5 January 1966. p. 6. The army Chief of Staff, Lieut. Col. Sangoule Lamizana, seized control of Upper Volta today in the fourth military take-over among the central African countries in the last two months.
  24. Titley 1997, p. 34.
  25. Titley 1997, p. 35.
  26. Titley 1997, p. 29.
  27. Titley 1997, p. 30.
  28. Titley 1997, p. 41.
  29. Titley 1997, p. 42.
  30. Titley 1997, p. 43.
  31. "Central Africans Execute Official. Republic's Health Minister Accused of Plotting Coup". The New York Times. 14 April 1969. p. 20. Retrieved 5 August 2008. The Bangui radio announced today that Health Minister Alexandre Banza, 36 years old, had been executed for having plotted to assassinate the President, Col. Jean Bédel Bokassa.
  32. "Lord High Everything". Time. 4 May 1974. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  33. Powers, J. (2001), Like Water on Stone: The Story of Amnesty International, Boston: Northeastern University Press, p. 88, ISBN 1-55553-487-2, OCLC 45845483
  34. Kalck 2005, p. xxxiii.
  35. Lentz 1994.
  36. Appiah & Gates 1999, p. 226.
  37. Brian Lee Davis (1990), Qaddafi, terrorism, and the origins of the U.S. attack on Libya, p. 16
  38. "In Central Africa the Sun Sets on a Republic and Comes Up on an Empire". New York Times. 5 December 1976. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  40. Kalck 2005, p. xxxv.
  41. Shaw 2005, p. 55.
  42. Shaw 2005, p. 50.
  43. Hoyle, Russ (30 March 1981), "A Campaign Catches Fire", Time, archived from the original on 21 September 2007, retrieved 10 March 2008
  44. Fuller, Thomas (28 February 2002). "But ex-president's past looms large: Giscard's new role at heart of Europe". New York Times. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
  45. Titley 1997, p. 79.
  46. Martin Meredith, The Fate of Africa, p. 230.
  47. Papa in the Dock Time Magazine
  48. Les diamants de la trahison, Jean-Barthélémy Bokassa, Pharos/Laffont, 2006
  49. "Jean-Bedel Bokassa vend son château à des proches du FN". Libération. 22 November 1995. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  50. "Jean-Bédel Bokassa (president of Central African Republic) - Encyclopædia Britannica". Britannica.com. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  51. "Trying the Butcher of Bangui", Newsweek (29 December 1986): p. 27.
  52. Great World Trials, "The Jean-Bédel Bokassa Trial 1986–87", p=437-440.
  53. Christenson 1991, p. 37.
  54. "Built For Designers & Developers". Americancivilrightsreview.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  55. Orizio, Riccardo. "Dear Tyrant". Granta. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  56. "Ex-President Jean-Bédel Bokassa rehabilitated by CAR" BBC News 1 December 2010

Sources
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