"a cabinet minister but Bokassa considered him weak. Jean-Bédel was included in Bokassa I's lavish coronation of 4 December 1977, which Pope Paul VI refused to attend. Jean-Bédel Bokassa Jr Prince Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Jr, or Prince Jean-Bédel Bokassa II (born 2 November 1973) is a son of Jean-Bédel Bokassa, head of state of the Central African Republic and its successor state, the Central African Empire, by his sixth wife Catherine Denguiadé, who became Empress on Bokassa's assumption of the throne. Following his father's decision to become Emperor, Jean-Bédel was named, at the age of 4, as heir apparent with the"
"""Everything here was financed by the French government. We ask the French for money, get it and waste it"". In 1979, Bokassa was overthrown in a coup, carried out with French military support, by the very man he had overthrown in 1965, David Dacko. The monarchy was abolished, the emperor was exiled, and his empire reverted to its former name. The Kingdom of Egypt (1922–53) held an enthronement rite for its last ruling king, Farouk I. A controversy arose as to whether the ritual should be religious in nature, an option favored by the king, or whether it should be"
"I had 40 children by his 19 wives. Among these are: Bokassa also adopted several children, three of which were Africans. One of these, however, was born in Vietnam as Martine Nguyễn Thị Bái and became Martine Bokassa upon her adoption. House of Bokassa The House of Bokassa is a self-proclaimed African royal and imperial house. Its founder, Jean-Bédel Bokassa, ruled as self-crowned emperor over the territories of the Central African Empire from December 4, 1976 until September 21, 1979, when he was overthrown. His claim to an imperial title had little recognition in the international community. The foundation of"
"September 1979, when Bokassa was ousted with French support. His palace was neglected. 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 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 ""S.M.I. Bokassa 1er"", with S.M.I. standing for ""Sa Majesté Impériale"": ""His Imperial Majesty"", on 4 December 1977. Bokassa's full title was ""Empereur"
"overnight coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa assumed power as president of the Republic. Bokassa abolished the constitution of 1959, dissolved the National Assembly, and issued a decree that placed all legislative and executive powers in the hands of the president. On 4 December 1976, the republic became a monarchy – the Central African Empire – with the promulgation of the imperial constitution and the proclamation of the president as Emperor Bokassa I. His regime was characterized by numerous human rights atrocities. On 20 September 1979, Dacko, with French support, led a bloodless coup that overthrew Bokassa while he was out of"
"the extreme end of the Orient where only death would follow monotonous life? . . . I felt totally forsaken. I belonged to a nation that had no music to express swelling emotions and agonized feelings."" Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Army of the Central African Republic seized power in 1965 and ruled until he was deposed by French troops in 1979. Bokassa was a great Francophile who maintained extremely close relations with France, often going elephant hunting with the French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. In 1977, Bokassa in imitation of his hero Napoleon crowned himself Emperor and renamed his"
"President Bokassa declared himself President for Life in 1972, and named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire (as the country was renamed) on 4 December 1976. A year later, Emperor Bokassa crowned himself in a lavish and expensive ceremony that was ridiculed by much of the world. In April 1979, young students protested against Bokassa's decree that all school attendees would need to buy uniforms from a company owned by one of his wives. The government violently suppressed the protests, killing 100 children and teenagers. Bokassa himself may have been personally involved in some of the killings."
"had a population of 300,723. In March 1981, widespread violence took place in Bangui following elections, after Operation Caban led the French to drop Bokassa (who had begun to call himself Emperor Bokassa I), and replaced him with David Dacko. Opponents of the President met in Bangui and were forced to flee the country. After returning voluntarily to Bangui in the autumn of 1986, Bokassa went on trial. Initially faced with the death penalty, in February 1988 he was instead sentenced to life imprisonment. His successor was General André Kolingba, army chief of staff of Decko’s army, who took over"
"1965 coup by Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who named himself President for Life in 1972 and Emperor in 1976. Coups in 1979 and 1981 led to rule by a military junta; free elections were held in 1993, and in 2003 General Francois Bozizé seized power. Two years later, he was chosen President in elections that were generally considered free and fair. During his years in power, his regime has been threatened by successive waves of rebellion by a number of different rebel organizations. His term was supposed to end on June 11, 2010, but on May 10 of that year the"
"Central African Empire The Central African Empire () was a short-lived one-party absolute monarchy, 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 Jean-Bédel Bokassa, military dictator and President of the Republic, who declared himself Bokassa I, Emperor of the Empire, on 4 December 1976. Bokassa spent the equivalent of over 20 million United States dollars, a third of the country's government annual income, on his coronation ceremony. The monarchy was abolished and the name ""Central African Republic"" was restored on 21"
"in February 1976. International support was waning during this period as well, so in response Bokassa dissolved the republican government and established the Conseil de la Révolution Centrafricaine (Central African Revolutionary Council) in September 1976. On 4 December 1976, Bokassa instituted a new constitution, naming himself emperor of the Central African Empire and his son, Jean-Bédel Bokassa II, was declared crown prince and heir to the throne. The emperor's sixth wife (Bokassa maintained a harem of nineteen women despite converting to Catholicism), Catherine Denguiadé, became the Empress of Central Africa. The ruling house was deposed along with Emperor Bokassa I"
"when he was succeeded as head of state by David Dacko in 1979. Bokassa continued to consider himself the head of state in exile. Jean-Bédel Bokassa II is the current pretender to the Imperial Throne of Central Africa and the current head of the Imperial Family. The Emperor was sentenced to death for murder in absentia. He later served a jail sentence in his home country, was pardoned and died of natural causes in 1996. Neither the US nor any European country acknowledged or supported the newly founded monarchy, with the exception of France whose President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing held"
"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"
"Operation Caban Operation Caban was a military operation without any blood shedding that was launched in September 1979 by the French to install the exiled David Dacko by overthrowing Jean-Bédel Bokassa who had resorted to dictatorial rule in the Central African Empire from January 1979. By January 1979, Emperor Bokassa had become such an autocratic ruler that he passed in injunction that all students of high schools should wear a uniform made in his factory. This led to an agitation by the students in Bangui. Bokassa called in the army to put down the agitation. In April 1979, Bokassa ordered"
"the French convinced him to cooperate in a ""coup"" to remove Bokassa from power and restore him to the presidency. On the night of 20–21 September 1979, French paratroopers carried out Operation Barracuda, which overthrew Bokassa and restored Dacko to the presidency. In March 1981, Dacko was elected President of the Republic once again in a reasonably free multi-candidate election; his term began on 1 April. Dacko was regarded by many Central Africans as a puppet of the French and his right to rule was challenged, in particular, by Bokassa's former Prime Minister, Ange-Félix Patassé who, in addition to belonging"
"a public announcement was made that Patassé had stepped down from office due to health problems. Patassé then left for France, where he remained in exile until the overthrow of Bokassa in September 1979. Shortly before Bokassa's overthrow, Patassé announced his opposition to the Emperor and founded the Front de Libération du Peuple Centrafricain (FLPC; Front for the Liberation of the Central African People]). Emperor Bokassa was overthrown and President David Dacko restored to power by the French in 1979. Dacko ordered Patassé to be put under house arrest. Patassé attempted to escape to the Republic of Chad, but failed"
"ceremony in 1977 costing US$20 million ($ million today), practically bankrupting the country. His diamond-encrusted crown alone cost $5 million ($ million today). In 1979 he had hundreds of schoolchildren arrested for refusing to buy uniforms from a company owned by one of his wives. Bokassa was reported to have personally supervised the massacre of 100 of the schoolchildren by his Imperial Guard. On 20 September 1979, French paratroopers deposed him and re-installed Dacko as president. Bokassa went into exile in France where he had a ""château"" and other property bought with the money he had embezzled. After his overthrow"
"downfall of the Bokassa regime on 20 September 1979, the other associates were released months after their arrest. Gbaguili served as a witness in Bokassa's criminal trials for treason, murder, cannibalism and embezzlement during the 1980s, explaining in detail the numerous crimes and human rights violations the former dictator had completed. By eliminating his dangerous rival, Bokassa demonstrated his ability to deal ruthlessly with dissidents and political opponents. He started to rule more arbitrarily after the Banza affair, giving himself control of various ministerial positions and the army. In one instance, he promoted Second Lieutenant François Bozizé, the future president"
"managed to leave for Paris, where the French convinced him to cooperate in a coup to remove Bokassa from power and restore him to the presidency. Dacko was installed as president on 21 September 1979, but was once again removed from power by his army chief of staff, André Kolingba, in a bloodless coup d'état on 1 September 1981. Bokassa lived in exile in Paris and was sentenced to death ""in absentia"" in December 1980. Upon returning to the CAR in October 1986, he was arrested and charged with treason, murder, cannibalism and embezzlement. He was cleared on the cannibalism"
"the country to be an autocratic Central African Empire, and made himself Emperor as Bokassa I. The expenses of his coronation ceremony actually bankrupted the country. He was overthrown three years later and the republic was restored. The rulers of China and (once Westerners became aware of the role) Japan were always accepted in the West as emperors, and referred to as such. The claims of other East Asian monarchies to the title may have been accepted for diplomatic purposes, but it was not necessarily used in more general contexts. The East Asian tradition is different from the Roman tradition,"
"by some other Congolese. The self-declared Emperor of the Central African Empire, Jean-Bédel Bokassa (Emperor Bokassa I), was tried on October 24, 1986, for several cases of cannibalism although he was never convicted. Between April 17 and April 19, 1979, a number of elementary school students were arrested after they had protested against wearing the expensive, government-required school uniforms. Around 100 were killed. Bokassa is said to have participated in the massacre, beating some of the children to death with his cane and allegedly ate some of his victims. In June 1987, he was cleared of charges of cannibalism, but"
"nation the Central African Empire. Bokassa was also notorious as one of Africa's most brutal dictators, engaging in cannibalism, becoming so vicious that even the French could not stand supporting his regime anymore and thus the French Foreign Legion deposed the Emperor in 1979. Bokassa once nonchalantly told a French diplomat after his overthrow about the banquets he used to organize with the French style cooking that: ""You never noticed it, but you ate human flesh."" Omar Bongo, the long time dictator of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009 was described by ""The Economist"" in 2016 as ""every"
"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. By January 1979, French support for Bokassa had all but eroded after food riots in Bangui led to a massacre of civilians. The final straw came between 17 April 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"
"1979. Overthrowing Macías, this group was constituted as the Revolutionary Military Council, chaired by Obiang himself. The other members of the Council were Florencio Mayé Elá as First Vice President and Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Salvador Elá Nseng as Second Vice President, among others. The islands of the country (collectively part of the Insular Region) were renamed as Bioko (formerly known as Macías Nguema Biyogo) and Annobón (formerly known as Pagalú). The new regime found that the coffers of the state were empty and the population was barely a third of what was at the time"
"1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état The 1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état happened on August 3, 1979, when President Francisco Macías Nguema's nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, overthrew him in a bloody coup. Fighting between loyalists and rebels continued until Macías Nguema was captured fleeing for Cameroon on August 18. He sentenced his uncle to death for the crime of genocide against the Bubi people and other crimes committed. Macías Nguema was executed by firing squad on September 29, 1979. Teodoro has remained President since then. After Francoist Spain granted Equatorial Guinea independence in 1968, a power struggle between Macías and"
"Obiang has remained president of Equatorial Guinea since the coup. 1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état The 1979 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état happened on August 3, 1979, when President Francisco Macías Nguema's nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, overthrew him in a bloody coup. Fighting between loyalists and rebels continued until Macías Nguema was captured fleeing for Cameroon on August 18. He sentenced his uncle to death for the crime of genocide against the Bubi people and other crimes committed. Macías Nguema was executed by firing squad on September 29, 1979. Teodoro has remained President since then. After Francoist Spain granted Equatorial"
"close ties to Bokassa. By 1979, France had withdrawn its support as well. Pope Paul VI refused to take part in the coronation ceremony. The remotest known ancestor of the Imperial House was Dobogon Gbo Hosegoton Bokassa, a person possibly living in the 17th century. The Emperor Bokassa himself was the son of Mindogon Mbougdoulou, a tribal nobleman who reigned over their birthplace and who was married to Marie Yokowo. Further distant relatives most probably exist from the side of Bokassa's uncles, the other sons of his grandfather Mbalanga, who, excluding his father, totaled a grand number of 31. Bokassa"
"by Jean-Bédel Bokassa, the nation's president. Inspired by Napoleon's coronation in 1804, ""Bokassa I"" staged his own elaborate ritual inside a large outdoor stadium in Bangui, his capital, on 4 December 1977. While guests sweltered in the 100-degree heat, the self-proclaimed emperor ascended a giant golden throne shaped like an eagle with outstretched wings, donned a 32-pound coronation robe containing 785,000 pearls and 1,220,000 crystal beads, and then crowned himself with a gold crown topped by a 138-carat diamond that cost over $2,000,000 to manufacture. His empress, Catherine—the youngest of his three wives—was then invested with a smaller diadem. The"
"death while being forced into a small cell following their arrest. The massive press coverage which followed the deaths of the students opened the way for a successful coup which saw French troops (in ""Opération 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. ""Opération Barracuda"" began the night of 20 September and ended early the next morning. An undercover commando squad from the French intelligence agency SDECE (now DGSE),"
"100 children were killed. 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 (in ""Opération Barracuda"") invade the Central African Empire and restored former president David Dacko to power while Bokassa fled into exile by airplane to the Ivory Coast on 20 September 1979. ""Operation Caban"" began on the evening of 20 September and ended early the next morning as the first phase of Bokassa's"
"drop their European names and adopt African ones. His own name underwent several transformations, so that by the end of his rule he was known as Masie Nguema Biyogo Ñegue Ndong. Many of the island residents population consisting of Nigerian labourers and traders were forced to evacuate. In August 1979 Macias' nephew from Mongomo and former director of the infamous Black Beach prison, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, led a successful coup d'état; Macias was arrested, tried, and executed. Obiang assumed the presidency in October 1979. The islands were renamed Bioko and Annobón. The new ruler faced the challenge of restoring"
"of Emperor Bokassa"", there are good reasons for suspecting her involvement in the plane crash. Abel Goumba, the vice-premier and finance minister whom Titley describes as ""intelligent, honest, and strongly nationalistic"", emerged as Boganda's logical successor. However, his close confidant and cousin, interior minister David Dacko, more likely to lead a regime deferential to foreign interests, was backed by the high commissioner, Colonel Roger Barberot, with the support of the chamber of commerce and Michelle Jourdain. He thus brushed aside Goumba and by 1962 had shut down the opposition, with MESAN becoming the country's single party. The events after Boganda's"
"re-elected as President in an unopposed election. On 31 December 1965, General Jean-Bédel Bokassa, a cousin of both Boganda and Dacko, seized power in the CAR through a coup d'état. The next day, 1 January 1966, he proclaimed himself president, prime minister, and head of MESAN. Bokassa stayed in power for the next 13 years. In 1972, he appointed Elisabeth Domitien as vice president of the party, and three years later as prime minister, a first for any woman of an African nation. At the MESAN congress on 4 December 1976, Bokassa instituted a new constitution and declared the republic"