HE CALLED himself the Emperor of Central Africa. Others dubbed him the Butcher of Bangui. Jean-Bédel Bokassa seized power in a coup on December 31st, 1965 and ruled what is now the Central African Republic (CAR) until he was ousted by French soldiers in 1979.
In his early years in office he was corrupt, brutal and chummy with France. (President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing often came to slaughter elephants in one of his wildlife reserves.) With time, however, Bokassa’s behaviour grew even worse. He fed his enemies to lions and crocodiles. He ordered all schoolchildren to buy new uniforms made by his family firm, rounded up those who protested and massacred at least 100 of them—reportedly joining in the beatings himself. After the French lost patience and overthrew him, the dismembered remains of a maths teacher were found in his fridge. His successor accused him of cannibalism. He always denied it, though at a state banquet he once told a French diplomat: “You never noticed, but you ate human flesh.”
Bokassa died in 1996. Strangely, he is now enjoying a surge of posthumous...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2bQ8Hsc
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