Vanesa,
Here’s a short biography of the emperor from : Wikipedia
A career soldier, Bokassa joined the
Free French Forces and ended
World War II as a
sergeant major with the
Legion d'Honneur and the
Croix de Guerre. By
1961 he had risen to the rank of
captain. He left the
French army in
1964 to join the army of the
Central African Republic. As a cousin of the President
David Dacko and nephew of Dacko's predecessor
Barthélémy Boganda, Bokassa rose to the rank of
colonel and chief of staff of the armed forces.
On
January 1,
1966, with the country in economic turmoil, Bokassa overthrew the autocratic Dacko in a swift
coup d'état and assumed power as president of the Republic and head of the sole political party, the
Mouvement pour l'évolution sociale de l'Afrique Noire (MESAN). Bokassa abolished the constitution of
1959 on
January 4 and began to
rule by decree.
In April
1969, an attempted coup was the impetus for Bokassa further consolidating his power. In March
1972, Bokassa declared himself
president for life. He survived another coup attempt in December
1974 and an assassination attempt in February
1976.
After a meeting with
Moammar al-Qadhafi of
Libya, Bokassa decided to convert to
Islam and changed his name to Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa. It is presumed that this was a ploy calculated to ensure ongoing Libyan financial aid.
In September 1976, Bokassa dissolved the government and replaced it with the
Conseil de la Révolution Centrafricaine 'Central African Revolutionary Council'. On
December 4,
1976, at the MESAN congress, Bokassa declared the
republic a
monarchy, the
Central African Empire. He issued an imperial
constitution, converted back to
Catholicism and had himself crowned
Emperor Bokassa I on
December 4,
1977, in a lavish ceremony clearly trying to copy Napoléon I Bonaparte who converted the French revolutinary republic of which he was First Consul into the First French Empire (but after conquering an empire second to no contemporary power), his full title being
Empereur de Centrafrique par la volonté du peuple Centrafricain, uni au sein du parti politique national, le MESAN, "Emperor of Central Africa by the will of the Central African people, united within the national political party, the MESAN"). 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. Over $20 million was spent on the coronation (consuming one quarter of his nations annual revenue, the type of overspending that had spelled to end for the French kingdom holding lavish court at Versailles), but despite generous invitations, no foreign leaders attended the event. Many thought Bokassa was
insane, and compared his egotistical extravagance with that of Africa's other well-known eccentric dictator,
Idi Amin. It was rumored that he occasionally
consumed human flesh. However, this claim was proven frivolous and false during his trial.
Though it was claimed that the new Empire would be a
constitutional monarchy, no significant democratic reforms were made, and suppression of dissenters remained widespread.
Torture was said to be especially rampant, with allegations that even Bokassa himself occasionally participated in beatings.
