COLUMN: Bokassa's ethics violations inflated by his detractors
Bokassa was born Feb. 22, 1921, in the village of Bobangui, in the French colony of Oubangui-Chari, destined to live life the hard way. At age 6, Jean-Bedel was orphaned when his father was caned to death by a colonial administrator and his mother committed suicide.
Educated at mission schools, the teenage Bokassa volunteered for the colonial French army in 1939, drawn by a sense of duty and patriotism. Fighting with distinction, he quickly rose through the ranks, collecting 12 medals and awards along the way.
When Oubangui-Chari a- chieved independence as the Central African Republic in 1961, its president, David Dacko, turned to the experienced Bokassa to set up the national army. Within four years, Bokassa rose to the post of army chief of staff, and saw it as his obligation to mount a coup on New Year's Day 1966 to save the country from the shameless predations of Dacko and his cronies.
Immediately, his country was treated to a series of reforms that, despite any minor shortcomings, improved their standards of living immeasurably. President Bokassa built roads, a hospital and a slaughterhouse and abolished the 1959 Constitution.
While his methods were unorthodox, he never went against what he perceived to be his people's interests. To combat the virtual infestation of beggars and layabouts in the capital, Bokassa flew them in planes and dropped them into the Ubangi River.
On Mother's Day 1971, Bo- kassa demonstrated his concern for the inviolability of the matriarchal role in the family by executing all those convicted of crimes against women.
Bokassa's eccentricities attracted the attention of the Western press. Irresponsible attacks of dubious authenticity were made against Bokassa: that he tortured and killed political rivals; that he ate them for dinner; that he evidenced an overabundant sex drive, extending beyond his many wives and mistresses to 12-year-old street girls.
Again, critics thundered against him for his $30 million coronation ceremony in 1977, when he crowned himself Emperor Jean-Bedel I. He may have overdone it slightly, but do extravagance, cannibalism and ostentation indicate a dearth of character and morals? But then, who is the West to define morality?
The emperor's reign was cut short in late 1979 after an unfortunate event tarnished his image in the eyes of his French supporters. Sadly, Bokassa fell victim to the same penchant for hands-on leadership which was the reason behind his great popularity.
Feeling greatly threatened by small hordes of schoolchildren who stoned his limo, he had them rounded up and jailed. In the following regrettable incident, Bokassa flew into an uncontrollable rage and clubbed some of them to death. Guards had orders to kill the rest of them. Several hundred supposedly died.
Though ousted in a coup that year, Bokassa's unremediable homesickness led him to return to the C.A.R. in 1986, where, to his surprise, he was arrested. Claiming to be simply a dedicated public servant whose $125 million fortune had been accumulated only at the behest of the people, Bokassa challenged the court to find him guilty.
While evidence of wrongdoing was sketchy, the deluge of ludicrous allegations was somehow upheld by the magistrates, and he was sentenced to death. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, and he was released in 1993 by judges who recognized Bokassa's errors as honest mistakes that any African dictator can make. His countrymen never fully understood the goodness in Bokassa and his devotion to them. Perhaps only now can we look back upon his departure from public life with an understanding for the figure who once proclaimed himself the most optimistic man in Central Africa.
Massoud Javadi is a Will Rice College senior.
This item appeared in the Opinion section of the January 31, 1997 issue.
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