When it comes to Africa, many people think of poverty and backwardness, and how they voted for us, and we helped them build a lot of infrastructure, and now many people are smuggled into Guangdong on the mainland, forming a black area.
In addition, we know nothing about Africa, and the people who make the news every day are East Asia, Western Europe and the United States, and no matter how many human tragedies Africa has experienced, no matter how many anti-heavenly coups have occurred, and how many strange eccentrics have occurred, no one will pay attention.
However, the land is not without news, on the contrary, if there are journalists willing to report everything that happens here, you will find that countless things have happened in any country that subvert your three views.
For example, the magical country of Central Africa once gave birth to an emperor who turned back the wheel of history, who ate human flesh, had flocks of wives and concubines, went on conquests and scavenged the people's fat. He was the Central African tyrant Bokassa.
Bokassa
The emperor of Central Africa who reversed history
Bokassa, whose full name is Jean Bader Bokassa, was born in 1921, and his hometown of Boban Ji Village is known as the "Village of the Shot", because his father was a local chief, so the family conditions were very good.
Moreover, it is only more than 80 kilometers away from the capital of Central Africa, so it can be regarded as the king of Central Africa.
Despite his wealth, Bokassa had an unfortunate childhood, when both of his parents died at the age of six, and without his parents' discipline, Bokassa became more and more arrogant, often fighting with people at school, and no enemies in the village.
And when fighting, Bokasa is not afraid of pain at all, even if he is beaten to the skin, he does not scream, and when the blood of others stains his fists red, he is very proud and proud of it.
With a per capita education level, Bokasa achieved very good results, and after graduating from secondary school, he abandoned his studies to become a priest after graduating from seminary.
Bokassa
But Bokassa's grandfather hoped that Bokasa would not use the Bible to save the world, but would take up a submachine gun and use the American style of physics to superbelieve, because his father, his grandfather himself and his great-grandfather were soldiers, not to mention that Bokassa's brutality as a child was seen by his grandfather.
Bokassa's grandfather would never have imagined that his decision would bring a hellish life to the people of Central Africa.
At that time, Central Africa was still a French colony, so after the outbreak of World War II, France began to recruit troops in his back garden, and Boccassa was 18 years old at this time, "like a flower", but was twisted by his grandfather to the French army.
After enlisting, Bokassa proved with strength that his grandfather did not see the wrong person, he was a natural demon, very fond of life in the army, often rushed ahead when fighting, and at the end of World War II had risen all the way to captain, full of various medals, this experience laid the foundation for him to become emperor in Central Africa.
De gaulle
After World War II, French President Charles de Gaulle adopted a no-do approach to colonial policy, so Central Africa gained independence in 1960 and established the Central African Republic, but this so-called Central African government was nothing more than a tool for the French to regain colonial benefits.
Since the newborn young regime did not yet have an army of its own, the French government sent Colonel Boccassa, who had served in the French army for 23 years, back to his homeland to prepare for the army.
Bokassa was well aware that Central Africa belonged to France, and because of his military experience and his interest in religion, he saw himself entirely as a French citizen.
The year after his return from France, Bokassa immediately began work on the creation of the Central African Republic National Army. At this time, the Central African President David Dako was his cousin, and everything went very smoothly because of this relationship, and after the establishment of the army, the real power of Central Africa was gradually held by Bokassa, after all, the gun was in hand.
Bokassa
In 1965, Bokasa heard that David Dako wanted to take the lead to prevent his own rebellion, so he immediately staged a coup d'état to replace him.
And these practices are seen by France, but because Bokassa has always sworn allegiance to France, France has to turn a blind eye, anyway, they are their puppets, everyone should be the same.
Bokassa also prides himself on being Napoleon's greatest admirer, which shows that he is not only skillful, but also particularly shameless.
On December 4, 1976, Bokassa turned back in history and declared that the Central African Republic had become a republic and an imperial system, proclaimed himself Emperor Bokassa I, and summoned the ministers of the various departments to the so-called palace, asking them to make the enthronement ceremony perfect and without any mistakes.
Bokassa
Eating human flesh, wives and concubines gathered together on five continents
In Central Africa, one of the poorest countries in the world, where the economy is constantly teetering back and forth between collapse and collapse, and hunger has become the norm for the Central African people, what else does Bokassa have to do to enthronement.
But Bokassa had his back to France and controlled the army, and these ministers were only civilian officials, and did not have the courage to rebel against Bokassa, so they could only obey him and organize the so-called enthronement ceremony for him. At the enthronement ceremony, the Bokassa people ascended the throne in the Central African national anthem, which was not originally celebrated by this national anthem.
Bokassa's robe is set with 280,000 pearls and tens of thousands of crystals, and there are 6,000 diamonds in the crown worth $7 million, and the entire enthronement ceremony cost $30 million, equivalent to half of the annual national budget of Central Africa, which was in the 70s of the last century.
And Bokassa's enthronement ceremony was like a clown's carnival, he invited the heads of state of more than 100 countries and 4,000 world celebrities, and even invited the Pope to preside over his coronation.
Bokassa
However, no one rewarded his face, but some non-leaders attended the so-called enthronement ceremony, such as the vice president of Nigeria and the wife of the president of Mauritania.
In order to take care of his good dog's face, France still sent a minister to perfunctory him, and Bokassa also ordered people to rent 22 planes, and flew 4,000 bottles of wine and 24,000 bottles of champagne from France and other places, and all kinds of precious wines added up to a total of 150 tons.
It also purchased 25,000 bouquets of flowers and 200 kilograms of rose petals from the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
In order to be able to provide for his own pleasure and squander, Bokassa has also been using the Ministry of Finance to amass money wildly. He is estimated to have $1 billion in Swiss banks, several luxury villas in France and Switzerland, and his fleet of luxury cars can form a large fleet.
If only to accumulate wealth, then the gap between Bokassa and the rulers of other African countries has not yet opened a particularly large gap. But he also has a hobby of cannibalism, which has to be frightening.
Bokassa
Later, during the trial of Bokassa, witnesses testified that the torsos and limbs of many people who had been dismembered and placed in large refrigerators were found in his suburban villa.
It turned out that Bokassa often held secret human flesh banquets late at night, with his relatives and family present.
Bokasa seems to have an almost paranoid fondness for eating human flesh, not only prey on other low-class people, but also kills executed officials to eat, and is also picky about the quality of meat, especially the flesh of children and young beautiful women.
Of course, these flesh is not only for eating, but also for the sake of these flesh and blood. President Dako, who was once overthrown by Bokassa, also said that Bokasa was a cannibal and that everyone could testify.
Bokassa
Bokassa loved not only cannibalism, but also murder, and in mid-April 1979 alone, he buried the bodies of 42 children, which caused an outcry around the world.
The international community and international agencies such as the United Nations Security Council and UNICEF have demanded that Central Africa immediately stop this cruel act, and there are also senior officials in Central Africa who have expressed their protests, which forced Bokassa to step down.
The neighboring African countries also set up a survey team to conduct field investigations in Central Africa, and France saw that Bokassa had made such a big fuss and was embarrassed to support Bokassa, so it announced that it would stop military assistance to Central Africa, and the "alone" Bokassa fled to Côte d'Ivoire on September 21.
After Bokassa stepped down, his evil deeds in Central Africa were exposed to the world. Bokasa regarded himself as the emperor of Central Africa, so he married many wives as his princess and made him empress, and he does not remember how many children he had.
Bokassa
After all, contraception is not available in Africa, and the number of wives that Bokasa admits adds up to 16, but in fact he has had more than that, these 16 wives and the women who have had sex with him come from five continents, and Bokasa himself is black.
However, he mentally identified himself as a French nation, so he valued white and Asian women more noble than black women, and among Bokassa's concubines, Chinese concubines were especially liked by him, because they satisfied his desire for conquest to a certain extent.
He believed that being able to conquer Chinese women meant that his own emperor could also conquer China, an ancient eastern power, and the same logic applied to France.
He married many French women because he thought it meant that he was on an equal footing with his French masters, a logic that was ridiculous, but it was a fact that his wife alone could hold a United Nations conference.
Bokassa
Repressive rule and lamentations of Central Africa
So during the years of Bokassa's rule in Central Africa, no one rebelled against them? Even if he manages the army, will no one at the top of the army want to replace him?
In fact, although Bokasa is cruel, he still has a little intelligence.
In order to maintain his rule, in the 11 years of 1966~1977, he reorganized his government more than 20 times, the prime minister changed four people, the foreign minister changed eight people, many officials disappeared and kidnapped inexplicably, and there were three ministers and above who were executed by him on the surface, and no one dared to resist him under this kind of high-pressure rule.
He drove away foreign journalists, and all courses on law were abolished in Central African universities, fearing that people would know that his rule was illegal and that his practices would be cut by a thousand cuts.
Even so, Bokassa was not at ease, and he single-handedly held 14 key positions in Central Africa, and in 1977 he removed the defense minister and replaced it with his son.
Bokassa et al
A month later, his son angered Bokassa by raising a different view of the coronation, and was arrested by Bokasa and sentenced to death for conspiracy, only to be exiled and not allowed to return to China after the empress's pleas.
If other opponents try to overthrow Bokassa, the end will only be worse, they may have their ears cut off, their eyes gouged out, and even their genitals cut off.
Bokassa's repressive rule and looting of the people caused Central Africa to stagnate for more than a decade after Bokassa seized power, and even more backwards after he became emperor.
The treasury was hollowed out by Bokassa alone, and Central Africa's industry and agriculture continued to lag behind, with a balance of payments deficit of 1.13 billion CFA francs, and Central Africa also saddled with a foreign debt of 21.2 billion CFA francs for Bokassa. The people and Government officials of Central Africa live in fear all day long.
Africa
Central Africa is one of the 25 poorest countries in the world, with poor livelihoods, already struggling to develop, and being interrupted by Bokassa, and because of his various irrational restructuring of universities, Central Africa's talent pool is far from that of other African countries.
At the end of 1986, after a five-day trial, the Central African Republic Tribunal decided to sentence Bokassa to death. The trial was held again on 15 December 1987 and Bokasa was tried by the Central African Criminal Court, and although Bokasa denied everything, he was sentenced to death.
On 29 February 1988, President Kolingba commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment. On 5 September 1993, President Kolingba issued another amnesty for Bokasa and released him from life imprisonment and house arrest, citing his old age and illness.
The reasons behind this repeated commutation of sentence are unknown, but in short, there are countless grievances under Bokassa, and the nightmare he brought to the Central African people will take a long time to be relieved.
As for the damage he brought to the development process of Central African countries, it is even more incalculable, but his fate is so ordinary, he actually lived until he was 75 years old before dying of a heart attack.
Bokassa
epilogue
Bokassa's story is not unique, and there are many military dictators in Africa who came to power through coups like him, perhaps on par with him, or even better, but most of them have not been punished as they deserve.
Countries like Central Africa are very common in Africa, although these dictators are not even as good as animals, but these misfortunes cannot be completely attributed to certain dictators, and the root cause of more tragedy is that the legacy left by the colonizers has not been cleaned up.
Moreover, the independence of many African countries is somewhat unjustified, in other words, the suzerainty has allowed independence and independence, and has not experienced revolutionary struggle.
Bokassa
Therefore, all the factors that hinder the modernization of African countries still exist today, and at the same time, coupled with the various games and proxy governments supported by Western powers in Africa from the last century to the present, Africa has been unable to move forward.
There may be fewer people like Bokassa, but as long as the soil that produces Bokasa remains, Bokasa will never be the last.
Resources
[1] Hou Jian 20th-century cannibal emperor of Central Africa
[2] Bokassa: The Emperor Who Roasted Man-Eating Meat Decision & Information No. 9, 2001
[3] Liu Mengxiong, former Central African tyrant Bokassa