CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: The Demise of an Emperor

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

NAIROBI, Nov 4 1996 (IPS) - The former president of the Central African Republic (CAR) Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who died on Sunday, will go down in history as one of Africa’s most controversial leaders.

He was the only modern-day African head to proclaim himself emperor in a country without a history of monarchies or empires and the only one to face a public trial for excessive abuse of power, including the murder of about 100 school children.

Bokassa died in the CAR capital, Bangui. He was 75. “He died of a heart attack at 9.30 (pm) local time,” his son, Jean Bokassa, announced from the family home in Bangui on Monday.

The CAR government announced Monday that the former dictator would be given a state funeral.

Bokassa, a former army chief of staff, seized power in 1966. Until his overthrow in 1979, his power was virtually absolute. He declared himself president-for-life in 1972 and emperor five years later. His December 1977 ‘coronation’ was estimated to have absorbed one-quarter of the country’s annual foreign earnings.

However, after his crowning, Bokassa increasingly withdrew from the public view.

The real challenge to his authority started when he tried to force students to buy uniforms from his wife’s shop. Students refused, rioted and fought pitched battle with police. Rights groups claimed that 100 students, perceived to be ring leaders, were arrested and beaten to death within the space of two days.

The unrest then spread, finally leading to Bokassa’s overthrow. He fled to France and was sentenced to death in absentia by the government which replaced his regime.

After several years in self-imposed exile, the ex-emperor returned home and was immediately arrested at the airport in Bangui. Retried, he was again sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison and later reduced to 10 years.

Since Bokassa’s overthrow, the impoverished nation of about 2.5 million people has been in a constant state of turmoil, which has sometimes almost degenerated into anarchy. On more than one occasion, France — its former coloniser — has stepped in to restore order.

CAR, which became independent in 1960, is the centre of France’s military operation in the heart of Africa. Of the 8,000 or so French troops based in seven French-speaking African nations, some 1,400 are stationed in the Central African Republic, both in Bangui and in the western town of Bouar.

Early this year French soldiers in Bangui stepped in to quell a mutiny by CAR troops demanding better conditions of service, and rescue the government of President Ange-Felix Patasse, in power since 1993.

Patasse’s decision to accord Bokassa an official burial is likely to please the many sympathisers that the former dictator still had in the CAR despite the abuses perpetrated during his reign.