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Panel Urges Nation to Forgive Ex-Leader
By JOSEPH BENAMSSE
Associated Press Writer
October 10, 2003, 3:30 PM EDT
BANGUI, Central African Republic -- A national forum recommended posthumous
forgiveness Friday for notorious Cold War despot Jean-Bedel Bokassa, accused
of cannibalism and executing schoolchildren during his 13-year rule of the
Central African Republic.
The reconciliation commission also said the image of the self-proclaimed
emperor should be "rehabilitated," and all confiscated palaces and property
should be returned to Bokassa's impoverished family.
Friday's vote to clear the dictator's name followed an apology from his 31-
year-old son, Jean-Serge Bokassa. He told the commission established by
President Gen. Francois Bozize that the family was sorry for the "wrongdoing"
of the elder Bokassa, who died of a heart attack in 1996 at 75.
"He was a builder. Unfortunately, the negative acts tarnished his image," the
younger Bokassa told The Associated Press on Friday, echoing a view now held
by many in the coup-ridden country, amid fading memories of the torture and
growing nostalgia for the stability.
The commission approved a one-sentence rehabilitation recommendation by a
show of hands Friday, without comment.
Bozize, installed in a March coup that ousted the elected president, is
expected to approve the measure.
Bozize, a former protege of the emperor, is believed anxious to help the
elder Bokassa's 62 known children, many of whom now live in rags on the
grounds of their father's once-sumptuous palace in the village of Berengo.
The Central African Republic, which is slightly smaller than Texas, was a
French colony until gaining independence in 1960. Jean-Bedel Bokassa served
in the French army until 1961, when he helped organize the new nation's
military.
He seized power in 1966 by ousting then-President David Dacko and was said to
sleep surrounded by pots of gold and diamonds.
Jean-Bedel Bokassa perpetrated some of the worst excesses of Africa's Cold
War dictators -- standing accused of executing scores of schoolchildren,
personally clubbing to death hundreds of political opponents, and eating
others.
His chef, the star witness in Bokassa's 1986-1987 trial following his
overthrow, testified to serving up slices of political opponents for his boss
out of the palace freezer.
He crowned himself "emperor" in 1977, and his coronation -- on a 2-ton solid
gold throne -- cost more than $20 million, equal to a year's gross national
product for his country.
Former colonial ruler France helped finance much of the elder Bokassa's
luxurious lifestyle, including the coronation. The money came in appreciation
of the nation's uranium for France's nuclear program and for the loan of
hunting grounds for former French President Giscard d'Estaing.
In 1979, the government slaughter of about 100 schoolchildren who protested
buying expensive uniforms from a factory owned by one of the emperor's wives
made it hard for even his staunchest patrons to continue supporting him.
France, also exasperated by Bokassa's courting of Libyan aid that year,
engineered his overthrow and replacement by Dacko.
"He killed the country. He pillaged the country. He did all kinds of wrong to
the Central African people," 38-year-old taxi driver Jean-Francois Bassole
said Friday in Bangui, the decayed capital, after the commission vote.
But in a country wracked by nine coups and coup attempts since independence
in 1960, many of its 3.7 million people yearn for the relative stability of
Bokassa's 13-year rule.
The now-dilapidated roads, hospitals and universities left by Bokassa's reign
stand as symbols to many of a prouder time, even though it nearly bankrupted
the country.
The emperor's rehabilitation "is a sign of recognition by the Central African
people, because he spent all his life building the country that is the
Central African Republic," 28-year-old student Patrick Bonazoui said.
"It's a good thing -- he should be recognized."
Bokassa offered in his last years to return to the throne, but the 1979 coup
ended the dynasty of Emperor Bokassa I. Despite the late leader's evident
plans of heirs-to-come, his son, Jean-Serge, said vaguely that he works in a
restaurant.
If the Berengo Palace should revert to the family, the struggling Bokassa
family plans to turn it into a tourist attraction -- picturing streams of
foreign visitors to the banquet halls and pools now filled with rainwater.
"It would be in the Imperial Court of Berengo -- it's gigantic," his son
said. "It would be an advantage to the nation, but also to history."
* __
Associated Press reporter Nafi Diouf in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this
report.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
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