There is such a country - the Central African Republic. In an attempt to prove, at least to themselves, that they still deserve a separate spot on the map, countries are ready to look for a reason for national pride in anything, even bloody dictators. On December 1, 2010, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of independence, Jean-Bedel Bokassa was posthumously rehabilitated, a ruler who ate his subjects in the literal sense of the word and quite deservedly claims to be the most cruel and ridiculous tyrant of the 20th century. Bokassa's widow, Katherine was awarded an honorary medal from a grateful fatherland.
However, you should not immediately write the inhabitants of the CAR into pathological slaves who do not deserve anything else but the iron hand of the overseer. Bokassa's rehabilitation and a medal for a dictatorial widow are a cry of despair for national identity, which suffocates in a cultural-historical vacuum and is looking for at least some kind of foothold. And here one can only sympathize with the Central African Republic, because few nations have it as hard as they do.
For some newly formed countries of Europe or Asia, life is much easier in this respect. They were lucky enough to emerge in territories with a rich historical background, so there is something to attach their national identity to. It is clear to us from the outside that the state of Egypt is less years old than its former president Mubarak. And inside, the Egyptians themselves are confident that Cheops, Cleopatra and Saladin are their great compatriots. In the same way, some Slovakia, which first appeared on the world map in 1993, can calm down national complexes by recording the Slavic prince Svyatopolk from the 9th century as its founders.
What about black Africa? In this part of the world there are now 48 independent states, and a century and a half ago, on the eve of the colonial division, there were only two: Ethiopia and Madagascar. Plus the strange American project Liberia. The remaining 45 have nothing in the past but the neighborhood community and colonial slavery. On what to build their national identity for a random set of tribes that ended up in one state solely because it was convenient for Europeans to draw a border line on the map in this way?
Everyone is saved as best he can. The Kenyan elite are looking for the ancestors of the Omani Arabs and are learning Swahili. In West Africa, the semi-mythical Songhai empire is remembered. Zimbabwe is proud of the rather primitive ruins of stone fortresses of the medieval kingdom of Great Zimbabwe. Somewhere in the Middle East no one would even look at these stones, but for an African country even such ruins are a great national success.
Indeed, some states of the continent do not even have such a small thing as legends, Arab conquerors and a heap of stones. There is no simple name - and there is no one, one political and geographical definition, like the Central African Republic. Niger or Nigeria, of course, are not the nicest names, not to mention their similarities, but these are names after all. Nigerians live in Nigeria, Nigerians live in Niger. And who lives in the Central African Republic? Central African Republicans? How can these 4.5 million people build their own statehood when they don't even have a name?
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The inhabitants of the CAR are deprived of all possible national attributes: they have no name, no language, no history, and even the territory came to them from French cartographers. In the past - only colonialism and a bloody dictatorship, in the present - civil wars and leading positions in the list of the poorest states in the world, and no prospects for the future. What can the nation's self-consciousness rely on here? What to grab onto? Only for Bokassa. The only Central African Republican of world renown.
The most famous cannibal who reached power, the President of the Central African Republic Jean-Bidel Bokassa, is now remembered in his homeland with nostalgia. The death sentence imposed on him for genocide against the people and cannibalism were not forgotten there. But they treat this with understanding: yes, he ate people - but then people also ate something …
1970 USSR. Bokassa is accepted as an honorary Artek member.
On August 28, 1973, the guest of honor was welcomed at Artek. The dark-skinned president of the "progressive" African country showed himself to be a real shirt-guy: he sincerely had fun with the Artekites, sang songs of his country and even taught boys and girls an African rhyme-verse. The President was awarded a guest tie and the title of “Honorary Artek”. After the ceremony, the excited African repeated several times how he liked the camp and the wonderful Soviet children. The man's name was Jean-Bidel Bokassa. In general, he loved children very much. At home in the Central African Republic, they were regularly served to him for dinner.
"He runs around Africa and eats children" - this is how Korney Chukovsky wrote in 1925 about the evil and bad robber Barmaley. He would have known that by this time in Africa, in the French colony of Ubangui-Charlie, a boy was growing up who would become the most famous cannibal in the world!
Jean-Bidel Bokassa was born into the family of a village headman, his father died when the boy was 6 years old. The mother had to raise twelve children alone. At the age of 19, the young man decided that he would seek fame and fortune in a military career. He was accepted into the French army, and during the Second World War, Jean-Bidel rose to the rank of sergeant. The army, which accepted Bokassa with open arms, hurried to get rid of him quietly after one "feat" committed in Vietnam - France also managed to fight there. During one of the raids, the brave sergeant got lost in the jungle, and about a week later, a platoon combing the forest noticed smoke from a fire: meat was being fried on the fire, and a cut human body lay nearby. So Bokassa decided to "use" the captured Vietnamese partisan. At first, as he himself admitted,ate the heart and liver of the enemy - to "get someone else's courage" …
The retired sergeant had where to go: his home country (now called the Central African Republic) gained independence, and Jean-Bidel's nephew, David Daco, took over as president. A relative immediately favored his uncle with the rank of colonel and the post of chief of the general staff - so in 1963 Bokassa reached heights that he had not even dreamed of in the French barracks.
Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa stands out even among the most colorful African dictators. He ruled the Central African Republic for 14 years, in 1965-1979. at the next peak of the Cold War, when the West was ready to help the most inhuman warriors like Mobutu and Idi Amin come to power in Africa, if only the communists did not get the country.
Already in the first year of Dako's presidency, an anti-government uprising broke out on the border with Zaire, which they could not suppress for several months. David Daco at that time traveled around Europe, begging for loans for the "economic development of the country." They gave him money: there were deposits of diamonds and uranium in the CAR. But, despite the loans, the country's economy was falling apart - but members of parliament, ministers and the president himself grew richer. Bokassa watched the reign of his nephew with disgust. And, apparently, he allowed himself to criticize a relative out loud. In early 1965, the CAR president ordered Bokassa to pack his bags and go to France to get acquainted with the military experience. Meanwhile, David Daco was hatching a plan to get rid of his uncle, who in the country was already considered a possible "savior of the fatherland." Nine months later, Colonel Bokassa was considered sufficiently educated,to return to his homeland and … arrest in two weeks. No specific charges were filed - they simply read out the death penalty decree. The day before the day the sentence was carried out, Bokassa shaved his head and refused food - he was going to meet death, as befits a man of his tribe.
They did not have time to execute Bokassa: his military friends were able to raise troops and, within an hour and a half after the start of the uprising, capture the capital of the country. Jean-Bidel was released from prison as a hero and the new president. It is in this episode that the answer to the question is covered why Bokassa, having reached power, dealt with his enemies instantly and very often with his own hands. So that the history of salvation similar to our own does not repeat itself. In photographs of the 70s, he is everywhere captured with the famous cane made of ebony and ivory - it was a means of reprisals against political opponents and people who caused the ruler's anger. The President killed them by sticking the tip of a cane into the eye.
In 1976, Bokassa invented a new title for himself: "Emperor of Central Africa, by the will of the Central African people, united in the national political party MESAN." The coronation of the new emperor was celebrated on a grand scale. 7 tons of flowers, 5200 liveries and 600 dress coats and tuxedos made by Cardin, 25 thousand bottles of Burgundy, 40 thousand bottles of champagne, 10 thousand silverware were delivered by airplanes from France. The crown for the emperor was made by the Parisian jeweler Claude Bertrand, it was adorned with jewelry that was the main property of the state, including a 58-carat diamond. Bokassa invited the presidents of several European countries and the Pope to his celebration. True, such distinguished guests did not come - but there was no shortage of white and black diplomats, businessmen, movie stars in the palace.
Bokassa was very zealous in fulfilling his dictatorial duties: he repressed, tortured, and killed. He fed those who disliked the regime to lions and crocodiles from his personal zoo, and ate especially dangerous opponents himself. So that the enemy's power goes to him.
The megalomania of the CAR leader has gone even beyond the fairly broad limits set for African leaders. In 1976 Bokassa proclaimed himself emperor, and the piece of land he patronized - the Central African Empire. The imperial court in the capital of the CAR, Bangui, could compete with the best royal courts of Europe in the 17th – 18th centuries. Bokassa wore either an alpine mantle with a golden crown, or a cocked hat with lush feathers and a uniform in the style of his colleague Napoleon.
The celebration of the coronation of Jean-Bidel Bokassa was attended by fifty prisoners from the capital's prison - those who, for various reasons, displeased the emperor. They treated these people surprisingly gently: they fed them abundantly, and took long walks. They finished their earthly journey in the palace kitchen and were served in the form of special meat dishes.
If the emperor's unusual gastronomic preferences were at that time a secret, it was only for guests. By that time in the country cannibalism … had become fashionable. No one was surprised at the disappearances of people at night, most often young girls and children. However, Bokassa's associates had chances of being on the table: one of the annoying ministers was ordered by the emperor to be served for dinner. He ordered another unfortunate man to fry, stuffed with rice, and invited … his family to the table.
After the overthrow of Bokassa, his cook Philip Lenghis spoke about the "special dishes" that he prepared for the emperor. Jean-Bidel himself called human flesh "sugar pork". On trips, he always took canned meat with him - the artisan cook came up with a way that kept Bokassa's favorite food fresh for several months.
Trips to the USSR were no exception, Bokassa also ate his canned food there. He also brought them to Moscow in 1970, where Bokassa, then just president and chairman of the only party allowed in the Central African Republic, the Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa, met with Leonid Brezhnev. By the way, in the Union, he most of all liked the ritual of fraternal kisses introduced by Brezhnev.
“I would love to eat it,” joked Bokassa.
Returning home, he kissed all the ministers. He said that this way you can find out whether a person is plotting something bad: if the lips are wet and relaxed, it means that they are sincere; if dry and hot - you should not trust him.
In 1977, Jean-Bedel was crowned as emperor, spending $ 20 million on the coronation: a throne of pure gold in the form of an eagle and a crown with huge diamonds were bought, as well as 65,000 bottles of elite champagne.
By the mid-70s, the emperor was fed up even with human meat and began to collect his feelings from … eating representatives of different professions. The country's only mathematician and dentist ended their lives on the cutting tables of the palace kitchen. The same was the fate of the winner of the country's first beauty contest. Bokassa dreamed of collecting a unique harem - one wife each from different countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. But he managed to have only 17 wives, who bore him 55 children. The emperor did not even know all of them by sight, princes and princesses wore golden badges with his portrait on their clothes. By the way, the children were strictly forbidden even to approach the kitchen, all the more so - to try their father's "special" food. Bokassa said that human meat should not be eaten by children, it can make them weak.
After the overthrow of the emperor, several of his children remained in the country, one son worked as a janitor, and his sister started her own laundry. Two more sons moved to Europe and opened their own business. One became the owner of a chain of fast food eateries in Paris, the other owns a restaurant in a small German city. But a student at the Sorbonne and former Prince Antoine Jean-Bidel Bokassa horrified the seasoned French. In the early 1980s, the police found a refrigerator in his apartment, filled with “female breasts, cuttings from the abdomen and thighs, cartilage of the ears and noses of young women … In the mountains of meat found in the freezer, no heads were found, but under the bed and in the bed of the hereditary Prince, six highly polished skulls were found."
The mistress who became his first course was Doris. The student girl met with Bokassa Jr. for a rather long time and, apparently, had serious intentions towards him. He, as it turned out, too. He strangled Doris while she was sleeping. French newspapers then printed excerpts from the interrogation protocols of Bokassa Jr.: “I enjoyed eating her fresh meat, especially the liver and heart, because, according to our African beliefs, this means that you become more courageous and brave … I ate a tablespoon in cheese seeing her brain - to be smart and cunning, like a woman. Subsequently, all the new girls whom I brought to my home, I treated to steaks made from meat not only Doris, but also the rest of my former girlfriends."
The needs of the imperial court grew, Bokassa needed money, and in 1979 he came up with a new item of income for the treasury. All children in the CAR were obliged to wear a special and rather expensive school uniform, which was made by only one company in the country. The company belonged to Bokassa's wife. Mass protests began with the participation of schoolchildren. The age of the rebels did not seem to the emperor a sufficient excuse. Schoolchildren were arrested, about a hundred children were killed.
1979 was the last year in the era of Jean-Bidel Bokassa. Bokassa issued a decree on wearing a school uniform. Few families could afford such a luxury. The demonstration of indignant schoolchildren and students was stopped by the troops. Barricades arose on the streets of the capital, and the emperor's residences were stormed several times. And Bokassa took action …
On his order, soldiers seized children, adolescents, young people from 6 to 25 years old on the streets and took them to the central prison. The emperor personally took up teaching "a good lesson", killing over a hundred children. The corpses were thrown into the river and buried on the territory of the prison. Here is how French journalists described another imperial "lesson": “About thirty children were brought in a truck to the courtyard of his palace in Berengo. … They were forced to lie down on the ground, and the drunk Bokassa ordered the driver to drive over this living carpet. The driver refused, and the emperor himself got behind the wheel. He drove the truck back and forth until the last cry stopped.
Elite French special forces landed in the capital on the night of September 21, 1979, while Bokassa was then in Libya on an official visit. The place of the president was again taken by David Dako, and for Bokassa years of wandering came. He tried to return to the CAR seven years later - there he was awaited by a trial and a ready-made death sentence. For genocide and cannibalism. But the execution was replaced by life imprisonment.
Bokassa was still released in 1993. He again tried to find support, an old man with a cane in a shabby marshal's uniform walked through the offices of officials and talked about how he had been unjustly overthrown and convicted.
The country, by that time already mired in corruption and poverty, remembered Bokassa's iron hand with nostalgia. Jean-Bidel, who became a vegetarian by the end of his life, hoped to come to power again, he even ran for the next elections.
Inspired by the support of the common people, Bokassa decided that he had the right to once again claim the highest power in the country. But the higher authorities did not think so, and, in the end, the ex-emperor was expelled from the guest rooms of the presidential palace. Living in Bangui and receiving the pension of a French veteran, Bokassa continued to fight. In the spring of 1996, he applied for amnesty to the new president, Patassa. The amnesty gave him the right to participate in the 1999 presidential elections.
Maybe Bokassa would have ascended the throne a second time, but death prevented.
In 1996, he died free from old age, claiming that he was the 13th apostle. More than thirty thousand people accompanied him on his last journey. Several years ago, the Bokassa Museum opened in the former imperial residence, displaying tinned cutting tables, the famous cane and photographs of the country's achievements during the era of the cannibal's rule - the university, stadiums, beautiful roads and marinas.
Gradually, the inhabitants of the CARs began to realize what kind of person they had lost. Even if he ate someone there, but what stability was with him. No rebels, no refugees, no foreign invaders like now. 14 years of calm led by one leader, not military coups every few years. And then Bokassa is the only person in the country who can, at least in some area, claim the title of the very best in the whole world. Cannibalism may not be the most honorable area for leadership, but others do not.
One of the sons of the late emperor, Jean-Serge Bokassa now sits in the CAR parliament. A logical continuation of the rehabilitation and medal would be the election of Jean-Serge, if not the second emperor, then at least the president. Indeed, for the Central African Republic, this is the only opportunity to declare its existence to the world.
Interview with Okassa's son Lsien (from 2001)
Throughout his "career" the cannibal emperor was married seventeen times and gave birth to 55 children. The CAR authorities, in order to attract tourists, opened the residences of Bokassa for visiting. This was done at the request of the "impoverished relatives". The AIF observer met in Paris with one of those very relatives - Bokassa's son Lucien (from his "main" wife Catherine Sola), who bore the title of "imperial prince". Now the "prince" has changed his name and agreed to be interviewed on condition of complete anonymity. Lucien owns two fast food eateries, and he certainly would not want visitors to know that the owner is the son of a cannibal.
“Lucien, excuse the question, but… is it possible to find out what kind of food is prepared and served in your diners?
- Of course, I will answer you with pleasure. In the morning you will be served a sandwich with a child's hand, then we also have salads made from human fingers, as well as cocktails with blood … Should I treat you?
- Lord … Are you seriously talking about this ?!
“Of course not, I’m not crazy. But if you only knew how my friends tortured me with these questions! For some reason, everyone thinks that since my father ate people, so in my diners they should fry human meat! Everyone winks, giggles … there is no life. In my "fast foods" people are fed regular chicken and cheese sandwiches and coffee. But honestly, I wish I opened a gas station … So let's stop talking about diners!
- Good. Then I would like to ask you: what is it like to be the son of a person who is allowed EVERYTHING in life?
- Hmm … When my father was overthrown, I was still a child. For the children of Bokassa, the word “no” also did not exist, so I grew up terribly spoiled. There was no denial of anything. Once I asked the security officer for a pistol to shoot at the sparrows. He didn't dare disobey (after all, I could complain to my dad), so he unbuckled his holster and gave me a heavy Browning. The trigger was too tight - I tried to push it, but I couldn't. Then I aimed the weapon at his forehead. The lieutenant was sweating, but he continued to smile pitifully. When I threw the gun down the steps, he said: "Glory to you, Virgin Mary."
- If you killed him, would you have something for it?
- Not. One of my brothers accidentally shot his servant. He was punished by not being given sweets for tea for a week. The servant's family received $ 250. However, for Africa it was a lot of money. My other brother - Jacques - amused himself by throwing gold coins out of the window, watching the boys fight over them, breaking each other's faces in blood. When one child stabbed another in a fight with a penknife, no one thought to forbid Jacques to do it. Even Bokassa came to watch his fun and had fun.
- Didn't they ban anything at all?
- Well, you couldn't go to the palace kitchen, because there they prepared special dishes for my father. Now I must confess that I was dying to taste them, and I envied him, especially when the smell of fried meat came from there. But they didn’t give it to us, although we constantly asked the servants “to bring at least a piece”. Then I found out why. According to the traditions of the father's tribe, small children should not eat the meat of enemies - they will be saturated with their spirit and also become enemies. Human flesh, according to Bokassa, can only be eaten by adults who have grown stronger in personal convictions.
- It's just monstrous.
- I agree with you, but I must say that in Africa there is a different attitude towards cannibalism than in Europe or the USA. For example, Africans love jerky and the brains of chimpanzee monkeys, but for a European it is like eating a human. Cannibalism still exists there in some rural areas: people eat their own kind for magical purposes, and sometimes just to stay alive: we often have famine.
- They say that Bokassa was actually a "addict" of human meat and when he traveled abroad, he took it with him.
- Yes it's true. Father's chef, Mr. Lengis, prepared canned food for him from "sugar pork" (as Bokassa himself called human flesh), which could be stored for a year at any temperature. The emperor called these canned food "sardines", and they were always carried with him by a bodyguard in a special suitcase.
- Is it true that Bokassa, even during his trip to the USSR in 1970, ate these very "sardines" for breakfast?
- It's hard for me to say something, because at that time I was just one year old. But, as far as I remember, Bokassa never went anywhere without the "sardines", because otherwise his appetite would disappear. I don't think he visited Moscow without his favorite meat.
- Did he tell you something later about his visit to the USSR?
- Yes. At first he was surprised by the communist custom of kissing, but in the end he liked it: as Bokassa said, it "makes it possible to feel the taste of the skin." They said that when he returned, he kissed all the ministers - they were even afraid of this. I also remember how my father laughingly told the chief of security that "Russian President Brezhnev is very well-fed." Bokassa repeated these words several times - "very well-fed", and he and the guard laughed for a long time.
- Was there anything you didn't like?
- Fights between children constantly broke out in the palace. Everyone knew that one of them would become the next emperor. But who exactly was unknown, since Bokassa believed that he would rule at least until 2000, which means that it was too early for him to appoint heirs. We hated each other - I always walked with a bloody nose, and others got it. The guards were forbidden to separate us, and she watched blankly as the princes thrashed each other. It's scary to say, but when one of our youngest brothers died of a fever, we were extremely happy - there was one less contender for the throne. Now I am very ashamed.
- Did Bokassa take any part in raising his children?
- Virtually none. He knew very few people by sight and even confused - you know, remembering fifty people is simply impossible. Any child born to Bokassa received a gold badge with his portrait - this is how the princes were distinguished. The only thing he made sure that the children received a military education, and also had access to women. As soon as the child turned 12 years old, the emperor gave him a concubine who was tempted in love.
- Did you get it too?
- God bless you, when my father was overthrown, I just turned ten years old. In general, any woman in the palace, on pain of imprisonment, was forbidden to deny the prince in sexual pleasures: even if she is the wife of a minister, general or ambassador (but not a French one - Bokassa valued relations with France). So any women were available to us. To be honest, we basically didn't know what to wish for. It got to the point of ridiculousness - once my four-year-old brother Ahmed (he was called that when his father converted to Islam) wanted a Porsche for his birthday. When the luxurious car with golden door handles was brought to the capital, the child burst into tears - it turned out that he meant a toy. The servants who misunderstood his request were fired.
- Yes … You know, I don't even have any comments.
- I didn’t tell you everything - the servants were glad that they weren’t arrested! In fact, my father was wrong - permissiveness from childhood turns people into slugs. Many of my brothers and sisters, after the overthrow of Bokassa, were treated in psychiatric hospitals for several years, they still have severe nervous breakdowns. Well, imagine - a person has never known a refusal of anything, but here in a restaurant they tell him that the dish he wants is not there today. How not ?! Why? Who dared? But no one pays attention to his desires - and as a result, he goes into hysterics. Now there are almost no such problems, because life puts everything in its place. I’ve got a good job, and one of my sisters now works in Belgium - every morning she sweeps the platform at the train station.
- At least formally, you have the title of "imperial prince". Would you like to try to restore the monarchy and return to the throne?
- What the devil do I want this for? People have changed. And I will no longer eat them as an emperor, but they will eat me if something goes wrong. No, I'd rather be busy with my diners - I'm about to open another one.