(b. Bobangui, 22 Feb. 1922; d. 3 Nov. 1996) Central African; head of state 1965 – 77, Emperor 1977 – 9 Orphaned at 6, Bokassa was educated at mission schools, joined the French colonial army in 1939, and fought in the Second World War and Indochina, receiving numerous medals for bravery. Commissioned as lieutenant in 1949, he rose rapidly to become Chief of Staff in the government led by President Dacko, whom he then ousted in a military coup d'état.

His regime rapidly degenerated into a brutal personal dictatorship, marked by the murder of numerous opponents in which Bokassa personally participated; he also indulged in ritual cannibalism. Not content with declaring himself President for Life, he decided to become an emperor, in emulation of Napoleon, and in 1977 organized a lavish but bizarre coronation ceremony which was alleged to cost a third of the annual national revenue. Despite these excesses, he retained good relations with successive French governments, and notably that of President Giscard d'Estaing, until he became too embarrassing to be ignored. Public revelations about his gift of diamonds to Giscard, the value of which was hotly disputed, coupled with Bokassa's physical attack on the French ambassador, resulted in his overthrow in September 1979 in an operation by French paratroops which was thinly disguised as an internal coup.

After taking refuge in France and Côte d'Ivoire, he voluntarily returned home in 1986, saying that he was homesick. His expected welcome proved delusory, and he was put on trial for murder and sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life imprisonment.

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(zhäN-bĕdĕl' bōkäs'sä) , 1921–96, president of Central African Republic (1966–79). He served (1939–61) in the French army, then organized his country's army, becoming commander in chief in 1963. In 1966 he led an army coup against President David Dacko, becoming president and prime minister of the republic. Declared president for life in 1972, he crowned himself “emperor” of the so-called Central African Empire in 1977. Erratic and violent, he was overthrown by a French-supported coup (1979) that reinstated Dacko as president. Bokassa lived in exile in France and Côte d'Ivoire, returning to the Central African Republic in 1987. He was arrested and charged with torture, murder, and cannibalism. Convicted of murdering several political opponents, Bokassa was sentenced to death, but that was later commuted to life in prison. He was released in 1993.