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Bokassa also claimed to have given Giscard a gift of diamonds worth around a quarter of a million dollars in 1973 while the French president was serving as finance minister.
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Bokassa and also
Gaddafi also aided Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the self-proclaimed emperor of the short-lived Central African Empire.
This action was also controversial, particularly since Dacko was Bokassa ’ s cousin and had appointed Bokassa as head of the military, and unrest continued in the Central African Republic, leading to Dacko being overthrown in another coup in 1981.
Jean-Bédel Bokassa (; 22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996, also known as Bokassa I of Central Africa and Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa ), a military officer, was the head of state of the Central African Republic and its successor state, the Central African Empire, from his coup d ' état on 1 January 1966 until 20 September 1979.
Bokassa also opened a public transport system in Bangui and subsidized the creation of two national orchestras.
Bokassa also believed that the coup was necessary in order to prevent further corruption in the government.
France also supported Bokassa.
A short-lived Central African Empire was also created in 1976 when dictator Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African Republic proclaimed himself " Emperor Bokassa I " and had a lavish coronation ceremony in 1977.
The use of " The First " ordinal is also common to self-proclaimed ephemeral " kings " or " emperors ", such as Dessalines, Christophe and Soulouque in Haiti, Iturbide in Mexico, Zog in Albania, Bokassa in Central African Republic, or the adventurer Boris Skossyreff in Andorra.
Bokassa and claimed
Bokassa claimed that Dacko finally gave up after French President Charles de Gaulle had personally told Dacko that " Bokassa must be immediately returned to his post.
In his address to the nation, Bokassa claimed that the government would hold elections in the future, a new assembly would be formed, and a new constitution would be written.
Although Bokassa claimed that the new empire would be a constitutional monarchy, no significant democratic reforms were made, and suppression of dissenters remained widespread.
But the French courts ordered that all 8, 000 copies of the book be confiscated and destroyed after his publisher claimed that Bokassa said that he shared women with President Valéry Giscard d ' Estaing, who has been a frequent guest in the Central African Republic.
Bokassa and have
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 a related incident, Giscard was reported by the Canard Enchaîné to have accepted diamonds as personal gifts from Bokassa – who fled to France with looted millions from the Central African Republic's treasury, but was still given asylum in France.
Grüner educated Bokassa with the intention of making him a priest, but realized that his student did not have the aptitude for study or the piety required for this occupation.
A hospital nurse testified that Bokassa was said to have killed the delivered child with an injection of poison.
He was said to have ordered the prison guards to club the children to death, and Bokassa indeed participated, smashing the skulls of at least five children with his ebony walking stick.
Bokassa was said to have wept silently as Judge Franck sentenced him to death.
Bokassa and given
As a cousin of the CAR President David Dacko and nephew of Dacko's predecessor Barthélémy Boganda, Bokassa was given the task of creating the new country's military.
Bokassa and Giscard
Valéry Giscard d ' Estaing was at first a friend of its ruler, Jean-Bédel Bokassa ; he supplied Bokassa's regime with much financial and military backing.
However, the growing unpopularity of that government led Giscard to begin distancing himself from Bokassa.
In 1975, the French president Valéry Giscard d ' Estaing declared himself a " friend and family member " of Bokassa.
On 10 October 1979, the Canard Enchaîné satirical newspaper reported that President Bokassa had offered the then Minister of Finance Valéry Giscard d ' Estaing two diamonds in 1973.
The prosecution did not examine the rumours that Bokassa had served the flesh of his victims to French President Giscard d ' Estaing and other visiting dignitaries.
Bokassa and around
Bokassa received substantive support from his co-conspirator, Captain Alexandre Banza, who commanded the Camp Kassaï military base in northeast Bangui, and, like Bokassa, had been stationed with the French army around the world.
Bokassa and quarter
Bokassa spent the equivalent of over 20 million United States dollars, a quarter of the country ’ s government annual income, on his coronation ceremony.
Bokassa and while
On 20 September 1979, Dacko, with French support, led a bloodless coup that overthrew Bokassa while he was out of the country.
Dacko planned to replace Bokassa with Izamo as his personal military adviser, and wanted to promote army officers loyal to the government, while demoting Bokassa and his close associates.
Bokassa allegedly participated in the massacre, beating some of the children to death with his cane ; however, the initial reports received by Amnesty International indicated only that the 100 or more school students who died actually suffocated or were beaten to death while being forced into a small jail cell following their arrest.
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 ( Côte d ' Ivoire ) on 20 September 1979.
* Jean-Bedel Bokassa video interview while exiled at Abidjan in 1983 ( French )
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 on 20 September 1979.
Bokassa and French
* September 20 – French paratroopers help David Dacko to overthrow Bokassa in the Central African Republic.
Widespread violence in Bangui followed the March 1981 elections, which took place following a French operation to depose Jean-Bédel Bokassa in 1979 and replace him with David Dacko.
In 1979 French troops helped drive Bokassa out of power and restore former president David Dacko.
Bokassa was born on 22 February 1921 as one of 12 children to Mindogon Mgboundoulou, a village chief, and his wife Marie Yokowo in Bobangui, a large M ' Baka village in the Lobaye basin located at the edge of the equatorial forest, then a part of colonial French Equatorial Africa, some southwest of Bangui.
After graduating in 1939, Bokassa took the advice offered to him by his grandfather, M ' Balanga, and Father Grüner, by joining the French Army as a private on 19 May.
After Hué bore him a daughter, Bokassa had the child registered as a French national.
On 1 January 1962, Bokassa left the French Army and joined the military forces of the CAR with the rank of battalion commandant.
Due to his relation to Dacko and experience abroad in the French military, Bokassa was able to quickly rise through the ranks of the army, becoming the Central African army's first colonel on 1 December 1964.
However, Dacko forbade his return, and the infuriated Bokassa spent the next few months trying to obtain supporters from the French and Central African armed forces, who he hoped would force Dacko to reconsider his decision.
In the early days of his regime, Bokassa engaged in self-promotion before the local media, showing his countrymen his French army medals, and displaying his strength, fearlessness and masculinity.
At first, the French government was reluctant to support the Bokassa regime, so Banza went to Paris to meet with French officials to convince them that the coup was necessary to save the country from turmoil.
Bokassa met with Prime Minister Georges Pompidou on 7 July 1966, but the French remained noncommittal in offering their support.
To the Bokassa regime, this visit meant that the French had finally accepted the new changes in the country.
In early December 1979, the French council officially stopped all support to Bokassa.
By January 1979, French support for Bokassa had all but eroded after food riots in Bangui led to a massacre of civilians.
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