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Jean-Bédel Bokassa ((:ʒɑ̃ bedɛl bɔkasa); 22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996), also known as Bokassa I of Central Africa and Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa, was a military officer and the head of state of the Central African Republic and its successor state, the Central African Empire, from his coup d'état on 1 January 1966 until overthrown in a subsequent coup (supported by France) on 20 September 1979. Of this period, he served almost eleven years (1 January 1966 – 4 December 1976) as president (the last four years as president for life), and for almost three years he reigned as self-proclaimed Emperor of Central Africa, though he was a military dictator. His "royal" regime lasted from 4 December 1976 to 21 September 1979. Following his overthrow, the Central African Republic was restored under his predecessor, David Dacko. Bokassa's imperial title did not achieve international diplomatic recognition. Born in French Equatorial Africa, the son of a village chief, Jean-Bédel Bokassa was orphaned at age 12. Educated in mission schools, he joined the French colonial army in 1939 as a private. He distinguished himself in the war in Indochina, winning medals and rising to the rank of captain. When French Equatorial Africa gained its independence as the Central African Republic in 1960, the new president David Dacko, who was his distant cousin, invited Bokassa to head the armed forces.〔.〕 In 1966, Bokassa used his position to oust Dacko and declared himself president. He then began a reign of terror, taking all important government posts for himself.〔 〕 He personally supervised judicial beatings and introduced a rule that thieves would have an ear cut off for the first two offenses and a hand for the third. In 1977, in emulation of his hero Napoleon, he crowned himself emperor of the Central African Empire in a ceremony costing $20 million, practically bankrupting the country. His diamond-encrusted crown alone cost $5 million.〔 In 1979 he had hundreds of schoolchildren arrested for refusing to buy uniforms from a company owned by one of his wives. Bokassa was reported to have personally supervised the massacre of 100 of the schoolchildren by his Imperial Guard. On 20 September 1979, French paratroopers deposed him and re-installed Dacko as president. Bokassa went into exile in France where he had a ''chateau'' and other property bought with the money he had embezzled.〔 After his overthrow in 1979, Central Africa reverted to its former name and status as the ''Central African Republic''. In his absence, he was tried and sentenced to death. He returned to the Central African Republic in 1986 and was put on trial for treason and murder. In 1987, he was cleared of charges of cannibalism, but found guilty of the murder of schoolchildren and other crimes. The death sentence was later commuted to life in solitary confinement, but just six years later, in 1993, he was freed. He lived a private life in his former capital, Bangui, and died in November 1996. ==Early life== Bokassa was born on 22 February 1921 as one of 12 children to Mindogon Mbougdoulou, a village chief, and his wife Marie Yokowo in Bobangui, a large M'Baka village in the Lobaye basin located at the edge of the equatorial forest, then a part of colonial French Equatorial Africa, some southwest of Bangui.〔.〕 Mgboundoulou was forced to organise the rosters of his village people to work for the French Forestière company. After hearing about the efforts of a prophet named Karnu to resist French rule and forced labour,〔.〕 Mgboundoulou decided that he would no longer follow French orders. He released some of his fellow villagers who were being held hostage by the Forestière. The company considered this to be a rebellious act, so they detained Mgboundoulou, and took him away bound in chains to Mbaïki.〔 On 13 November 1927, he was beaten to death in the town square just outside the prefecture office. A week later, Bokassa's mother, Marie Yokowo, unable to bear the grief of losing her husband, committed suicide.〔〔.〕 Bokassa's extended family decided that it would be best if he received a French-language education at the ''École Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc'', a Christian mission school in Mbaïki.〔.〕 As a child, he was frequently taunted by his classmates about his orphanhood. He was short in stature and physically strong. In his studies, he became especially fond of a French grammar book by an author named Jean Bédel. His teachers noticed his attachment, and started calling him "Jean-Bédel".〔 During his teenage years, Bokassa studied at ''École Saint-Louis'' in Bangui, under Father Grüner. Grüner educated Bokassa with the intention of making him a priest, but realized that his student did not have the aptitude for study or the piety required for this occupation. He then studied at Father Compte's school in Brazzaville, where he developed his abilities as a cook. After graduating in 1939, Bokassa took the advice offered to him by his grandfather, M'Balanga, and Father Grüner, by joining the French colonial troops as a tirailleur (rifleman) on 19 May 1939.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jean-Bédel Bokassa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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