10 Most Brutal African Dictators
4. Jean-Bedel Bokassa - Central African Republic
After his father was beaten to death for rebelling against the French Forestière company, and his mother, unable to cope with the loss, committed suicide, Bokassa became an orphan at the age of six. Over the next half-century, he made the most extraordinary journey from orphan-hood to Emperor, presiding over a barbarous reign which claimed the lives of thousands.
A skilled soldier who was awarded France's highest military accolade, the Legion d'Honneur, Bokassa helped establish the army of the newly formed Central African Republic before using his military might to overthrow the incumbent President Dacko in a 1965 coup d'etat.
Like many post-colonial African leaders, Bokassa promised much to the people but delivered little, instead using his position to fund his own lavish lifestyle at the expense of an economically devastated population. Though the new premier made a number of positive changes to the country in the early months of his reign - such as banning the practices of female circumcision and polygamy, as well as establishing a public transport network - his egomaniacal drive for power soon began to threaten the nation.
In 1972, Bokassa ended all illusion of democracy by declaring himself president for life. The leader briefly converted to Islam in order to seek the continuing aid of Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi, but soon reverted to Catholicism when it interfered with his grandest scheme of all - proclaiming himself Emperor of Central Africa. Emulating his great hero Napoleon, an extravagant coronation ceremony was laid on for the newly ascended Bokassa I. Costing in the region of $20 million, the event practically bankrupted the nation.
The emperor's despotic nature only worsened. In 1979, over one hundred children were massacred following protests against a law forcing school students to purchase uniforms exclusively from a factory owned by Bokassa's wife.
It was the final straw for a starving population, and a French-organised coup finally deposed the emperor. Yet Bokassa never paid for his crimes; he was eventually pardoned in 1993 and released from prison in Bangui. Afterwards, an aging Bokassa spoke of his secret meetings with the Pope and named himself the 13th Apostle, before eventually dying of natural causes in 1996.