Not just fade away
Jean-Bédel Bokassa: The Pope's apostle
Jean-Bédel Bokassa (1921-1996) was appointed head of the armed forces of the newly independent Central African Republic in 1961. In 1966, he overthrew President David Dacko and declared himself president of the republic and, 10 years later, emperor of the Central African Empire.
Troops of the former colonial power France ousted Bokassa after he had effectively bankrupted the country and been accused of a raft of atrocities including personally participating in the massacre of 100 schoolchildren. He went into exile in Ivory Coast and later settled in France, living in opulent style near Paris.
Unwisely, however, in 1986 Bokassa decided to return to the Central African Republic, possibly because funds were running low. He was promptly arrested, put on trial and found guilty of the murders of the schoolchildren and of other crimes, though he was acquitted of cannibalism. He was sentenced to death but the sentence was later commuted, and he was freed in 1993. He died of a heart attack three years later.
The writer Riccardo Orizio interviewed Bokassa in 1994 for his book Talk of the Devil: Encounters with seven dictators (see below). Dressed in a long white robe and holding a silver crucifix, Bokassa claimed to be an apostle of the Catholic Church secretly appointed by the pope. 'I fought for France,' he told Orizio. 'I liberated France from the Nazis. I called Giscard my cousin. And they betrayed me.'
Find out more
Talk of the Devil: Encounters with seven dictators by Riccardo
Orizio (Secker & Warburg, 2003) £15.99
Interviews with Amin, Bokassa, Menghistu, Baby Doc Duvalier, Wojciech
Jaruzelski, Enver Hoxha's wife Nexhmije and Milosevic's wife Mirjana.
Wikipedia: Jean-Bédel Bokassa
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Bedel_Bokassa
A concise biography.
US State Department country profile: Central African Republic
www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4007.htm
Includes a good brief history.
