Historian/Expert (7:43)

I think in addition to how the coup d' etat was executed, what was kind of interesting was that the initial response was surprise. Yes, but more or less, okay, then, we're doing this now and moving on. I think there was a hope that having a military person come in would be able to bring in some of that structure and discipline from the military, to introduce a bit more seriousness into the Central African government and a kind of get things done mentality. He was also very close with France, and French functionaries were still staffing all of these Central African government offices. And so they saw him as also someone who they could work with. He spoke their language in both a literal sense and also in more metaphorical senses.

Narrator (8:30)

There is one life. Colonel Picasso reluctantly spares his cousins. Perturbed by the prospect of the summary execution of a former head of state, Franz threatens to cut off aid to the car if Darko is killed. So rather than meeting his end at Ngaragba, Dacko is kept in a small room at the Camp Kasai army facility. He remains in solitary confinement and is placed on a highly restrictive diet, losing weight. Alarmingly, Dr. Gino Vlaberneau has studied the deposed president's personal accounts. It turns out that Darko has a different, rather more outlandish theory as to why Picasso spares his life.

Academic/Analyst (9:16)

Dacko goes into a story in his biography as to why Bokassa didn't kill him. Maybe because of some pretty strong women who have supernatural powers that Bokassa feared. And since Bokassa and Dacko were from the same region, Bokassa didn't want to upset these women. At least that's what Dacko recounts in his biography.

Narrator (9:50)

The new president is quick to spell out the justifications for his couple. Bokassa's main argument is that Izamo and pro Chinese accomplices have been concocting an elaborate plot to seize power and install communism in the car. The ground had been laid because Darko had cozied up to the People's Republic of China in exchange for a sizable loan. Less than a week after the coup, Bacassa breaks off diplomatic relations with Beijing. This certainly plays well with his French backers. Concern at the potential for radical leftism to spread throughout Africa is rife among the former colonial powers. Richard Moncrieff, analyst and expert on Central.

Political Analyst (10:36)

Africa In Central African Republic and in much of the rest of Francophone Africa, the specific ideological debates around socialism and capitalism did not have much depth, were not, in a way, not of great interest to people. But the geopolitics was, and some leaders took the calculation really that siding with the Western power and of course in this case with France, was a useful strategy. And declarations of anti communism was part of that strategy. I think that the anti communism which Bocasse expressed was not so much an ideological choice as a geopolitical choice informed by a kind of historic respect for French power. I'd say not so much the French nation, but this sense of power emanating from France.

Narrator (11:36)

But Bacassa's focus is not just on foreign powers. It's on what can be done at home. The new president dissolves the CAR's National assembly, berating it as a lifeless organ no longer representing the people. In its place, he installs a new government, which he labels the Revolutionary Council. He also abolishes the constitution, saying that a new one will be put to the people to decide upon. Elections will follow, he promises, and and after that, a new assembly. Picasso stresses that he wants nothing other than to see the will of the people enacted. He pledges that once the communist threat is eliminated, the economy stabilized and corruption rooted out, he will willingly give up power. In a show of apparent humility, he passes up the chance to live in the plush surroundings of the presidential palace. Instead, he moves into the Camp de Rubarracs. Though he will later build himself at least one opulent palace, Bokassa confidently evokes the legacy of Bartelemi Boganda, the deceased father of the nation and symbol of Central African independence. Bokassa says that his coup was a miracle achieved in the great man's name.

Academic/Analyst (12:59)

At least at the beginning he insisted right that he was someone who could bring the whole Central African country together. A man of unity and also a strong and determined leader. That is the kind of discourse with which he began leading the country. But the structural situation in which he found himself, which was not a lot of educated people, really minimal infrastructure at the time of independence. So the objective became, how do I develop the country?

Narrator (13:46)

Vacassa devotes himself to bringing the Central African Republic in line with his ambitious vision of a modern nation. Bangui is one of the only African capitals without a public transport system, and the president spots an easy win to get his new subjects on side. He inaugurates bus lines which crisscross the capital. And a fleet of buses duly arrives from France. A ferry service begins carrying passengers up and down the Ubangi River. Bacassar even subsidizes the establishment of two national orchestras with instruments brought in from Paris.

Historian/Expert (14:25)

Bokassa had big plans, and he immediately started working on the projects that he had for the country. Building a better airport, eventually building a university, building a lot of new government buildings. His imprint architecturally is still very important in the city of Bangui, the capital. It took him some years to really be able to achieve what he had started out hoping to do. But one of the things that was distinctive about this time was that he had lots and lots of ideas and programs and he was starting things. And at least in those early years, it felt like an exciting time to a lot of Central Africans. That it was a time when things were being created, when there were opportunities. And these included things like a youth corps that was going to go around and do different kinds of public projects all over the country. And for young people, this was exciting. This was a chance to earn some money, which was still a relatively rare thing for most Central Africans at that time, but certainly something everybody wanted and to participate in the building of a nation.

Narrator (15:35)

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Historian/Expert (16:49)

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Narrator (17:24)

This burst of projects is accompanied by a flurry of decrees which seek to impose a new moral code. The Revolutionary Council orders that men and women between the ages of 18 and 55 must provide proof of employment to avoid fines or imprisonment. Begging is outlawed. Tom Toms the drums, which throb away in Bangi suburbs, can only be played at night or over the weekend. Polygamy and dowries are abolished, as is female circumcision. Parents found to have harmed the educational opportunities of their daughters will be punished. Finally, Bokassa forms a morality brigade to keep a watchful eye on Bangi's bars and dance halls. In this moral crusade, he targets those he calls the thieves and swindlers of the Dako regime. Most of the bureaucrats he inherits are dismissed, and Bacassa rounds on the civil service, accusing officials of using their offices for rendezvous with their mistresses. Ministers and civil servants are henceforth banned from nightclubs and other such places of public pleasure. To make it known that he's serious, Bokassa even banishes the mayor of Bangui to the countryside when he fails to meet the new president's moral expectations. Bokassa's plans to reshape the nation in his image are in of favor. Full swing.

Historian/Expert (18:57)

There were still French advisors around working in a lot of the government agencies, but the idea was that everything should be taken over by Central Africans. So there was a push to try to hire more Central Africans in all different kinds of government agencies and even just establish those government agencies. Remember, Bokassa was the one who was key to establishing the Central African military. Just about 10 years before, all of these institutions were brand new. So as you Create new institutions. You get to hire people and hiring people, giving them a salary, giving them the status of being a public sector employee. This is a very popular thing for a president to do something. Everybody wants to get that kind of a post. And he was able to do this on a scale that was probably greater than his immediate predecessor, David Dacko. That led to the feeling that this was a country that was on the up and up.

Narrator (19:51)

But it isn't long before the car's new leader is giving with one hand and taking with the other. As the months progress, Bacassus early promises of free elections seem to be fading into the background, he increasingly goes off the whole idea. The people need strength, clarity, a figure to rally behind, not the mess of elections. In October 1966, Bokassa makes a memorable, striking public announcement. He, and he alone, is the nation's guide. He proclaims, I am everywhere and nowhere. I see nothing, yet I see all. I listen to nothing and hear everything. Such is the role of a head of state. There is no mistaking who is in charge. In time, Bokassa will ban elections and even forbid the mere mention of democracy. Bacassar's change of stance and Central Africans willingness to accept it likely has at least something to do with the apparent need to create order in a country still wrestling with its autonomy.

Historian/Expert (21:09)

Bokassa, being something of a war hero and coming out of the military, he had some credibility in terms of saying that he was going to shape things up in the Central African Republic. Common to most military governments, the rationale of the leaders is that the military is an established institution that knows how to get things done, and that is going to be able to get things done in a way that civilians never managed to get themselves disciplined enough to do now. Central African Republic, its legislature was a bit of a laughing stock. It was known for having long debates about the price of alcohol at the market or, you know, things that directly affected the ministers, but ignoring this much bigger problem and project of building a nation, building institutions, all of that kind of stuff. So I think people felt like, here's somebody coming in with big ideas. Let's see what he can do. And he also had a very strong sense of himself as a visionary, as someone who was specially endowed to be able to do this kind of work.

Narrator (22:18)

But beyond the capital, Bangui, few people know much of Colonel Bokassa, who has spent the majority of his life abroad fighting foreign wars on behalf of the colonial power. The CAR's ebullient new president must rectify this. He engages in an energetic self promotion campaign, showing his countrymen his French army medals and talking up his own strength, fearlessness and masculinity. In a series of public appearances to retain the support of the influential Catholic missions in the country, he makes frequent appearances at church, praying on ostentatiously. During an official visit to Bangi Hospital, he announces that he's donating his first month's salary to its operations. Styling himself as the new Father of the Nation, Picasso encourages his ministers to address him as Papa. He tours the country with a slight limp due to occasional flare ups of gout, and is propped up by an ebony walking stick topped with an ivory knob. The cane is known as his Cannes de Justice, with which he will administer beatings to anyone who gets on his nerves and strays within range around the car. He gives vigorous speeches in Sango, the national language, and Central Africans flock to hear him. Women regularly come forth to mop his brow with their dresses. Before long, his proclamation that he is everywhere seems to come true. Billboards, clothing, street signs and school exercise books all bear his name or his image.

Historian/Expert (24:09)

He was central in creating the Central African Television station. He was one of the first in this whole region. So he brought from his travels a sense that there was a lot going on in the world, that there was a lot of technological progress that Central African Republic needed to catch up on, and that this was a potentially wealthy country that should stand on two proud feet. Despite the fact that it was so obviously very poor and lacking in resources and education.

Political Analyst (24:45)

He and other leaders were trying to build state institutions out of pretty much nothing. Bacassa, like other post colonial African leaders, have often been described as rather weird or mad or irrational. But I think they're trying to pull off an almost impossible trick of pretending that they are the leaders of a modern country that has a seat at the UN in the same way that France does, and that buys into the myth of equality of nations. Because indeed, that myth is important to their power. It's important at a domestic level because they draw from the myth of sovereignty and the belief, or the belief that they're trying to create that they are the leader of a modern state. They draw on that in an attempt to impose internal legitimacy in a very fragile, and in the case of Central African Republic, a deeply fragile context.

Narrator (25:48)

By Bokassa's side is Alexandre Banza, the chief co conspirator in the coup that brought the Colonel to power, and now the Minister of Finance. But Banza is growing increasingly vexed by his capricious leader, whose Fantastical decrees and expensive tastes are disrupting efforts to steady the country's finances. Relations between the two deteriorate, with the national budget the major source of contention. Picasso is not a man to brook dissent. In April 1968, he announces one of his frequent cabinet reshuffles. Banza is demoted to Minister for Health. No surprises there. But soon after, Banza takes the bold step of publicly criticizing both Bokassa and his erratic management of the economy. The President pounces on this insubordination by demoting his former ally. Further. Still refusing to buckle, Banza hatches a plot to claim his revenge. It's the afternoon of April 10, 1969. Alexandre Banza flashes his security clearance to the guard at the gate of Camp Kasai. It's hardly necessary. He is the second most recognizable man in the country these days. His mouth is dry, but he smiles warmly and is waved through. In his pocket are handwritten plans for overthrowing prisoners. President Bokassa. Naturally, he's kept the plot as quiet as possible, confiding only in those he feels he can trust. The playbook is almost identical to the one that he and Bokassa use to oust Darko. Banza and his accomplices will take over the usual strategic points in the capital. The airport, the radio station and the palace. As he enters the facility, he's approached by lieutenant Jean Claude Mandaba, the camp's commanding officer. Mandaba is aware of what's afoot. He is one of the few people Banza has told about the coup. Although that, as Banza was about to discover, was not a good idea. Assisted by two soldiers, Mandaba grabs hold of the Banza, who struggles fiercely, barely having time to realize that he's been betrayed. A sudden sharp blow to his forearm snaps the bone clean in two. Overpowered, Banza is bound by the ankles and wrists and bundled into the boot of a Mercedes. With a thud, everything goes d. Banza is driven out to Berengo, 80 km southwest of Bangi, where Bokassa is ready to greet him at the vast palace he's built for himself. Bacassar interrogates his former minister and thrashes him with his cant justice. Only Mandaba's hasty suggestion that a public trial should be held spares Banza's life. On April 12, 1969, Panzer is placed before a military tribunal at the Camp du Rou. Broken, beaten and exhausted, he tries to argue that while he'd sought to topple Bokassa, he'd not intended to kill the President. The plans found in his pocket confirm this, but it doesn't really matter. The trial is predetermined. The inevitable death sentence is handed down that night. Panzer is led to a field behind Camp Kasai, where a firing squad awaits. He's buried where he falls in an unmarked grave.

Historian/Expert (29:56)

Bokasa could also be uncompromising and brutal, certainly, but I think that Central Africans were both critical of that, but also used to it. Unfortunately, by this point, their experience with government was that it was most of the time completely neglectful of them and then every now and then extremely brutal towards them. And of course they didn't want it to be that way, but that was kind of the experience during the colonial period. So now, in this independent area era, with somebody coming in, promising to be very tough and hard on bad guys while also building institutions, it didn't sound to a lot of people like a terrible turn of events.

Narrator (30:40)

Taking on the bad guys is very much part of Bokassa's mo. Many of those deemed a threat to his regime end up in Ungaragba prison, where lack of sanitation and poor diets are just as likely to cause death as the merciless torture in the prison's tomb. Like concrete cells, beatings are common for inmates, especially for those convicted of crimes against women. To mark Mother's Day one year, Bokassa suddenly orders the execution of all those guilty of raping or killing women. All female prisoners are released. Bokassa frames himself as the moral conscience of the nation. He has informers everywhere, and being close to him is no guarantee of lighter punishment for perceived transgressions. His valets are frequently flogged, while his cabinet is kept on its toes by impromptu promotions and emotions. Some are banished to far flung corners of the country. Whether Bacassa is issuing amnesties or death sentences, it's always done in the name of a greater project, that of building a Central African Republic to be proud of. Yet this self styled embodiment of the nation will forever have a piece of his heart. Thousands of miles from home In France, the CAR's old colonial oppressor. And there is one Frenchman above all whom Bossa idolizes. Charles de Gaulle, the legendary leader of the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany and president of his country. Between 1959 and 69, this titan of international relations is described by Bokassa as a father figure to him and the only hope after God for the people of the car. So when in November 1970, Bokassa receives the news that the former president has died, he's distraught. Seemingly in genuine shock, Picasso heads for Paris and is the first world leader to arrive for a commemorative mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. At a reception in the Elysee Palace, Picassar irks his hosts by turning up in a French parachutist's uniform. Then, during a visit to the village where de Gaulle is buried, Picasso weeps openly exclaiming that he has lost his papa. Madame de Gaulle is unimpressed. Such extraordinary displays reveal something deeply complex about this often brutal dictator. The knotty ties of history and the pragmatic needs of geopolitics mean that France plays an outsized role in the daily affairs of the car. But for Bokassa, his connection to the French Republic seemed almost spiritual.

Historian/Expert (33:40)

Bokassa was a fascinating person for so many reasons, including that he was an incredibly proud patriot of the new nation of the Central African Republic. And at the same time he wanted to be more French than the French. And you can see this in all sorts of different ways. For instance, one of the things that the French colonials did in the Central African Republic was big game hunting. And he participated in that with great eagerness and invited French dignitaries, French heads of state to come and hunt with him. So yeah, the sense of self as a French person as well as a Central African. But I think these identities were equally important to him.

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Historian/Expert (35:02)

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Narrator (35:32)

President is Georges Pompidou. More of a stiff technocrat than the strident, swashbuckling de Gaulle had been Picasso is underwhelmed. With Pompidou in charge, France remains the major player in its former colony's economy and provides considerable subsidies, technical assistance and budget supplements. Yet things aren't quite the same as they had been when Picasso could warm himself in the rays of de Gaulle's charisma. And it's now that Picasso's attentions wander, casting around for alternative sources of aid and patronage and for fresh ideas that might allow the CAR to flourish in its own right.

Academic/Analyst (36:18)

In the 70s, Bocassa decided to what we call Central Africanize. So in French Central Africanization, he wanted to remove all the French people who were still in various ministries, either in advisory roles or still managing different departments. So he took a specific decree in August 6, 1971, where he wanted to Central Africanize all the managing positions within the public service. But we then really taking into account that he wouldn't find the required skills among the available Central Africans.

Narrator (37:09)

In addition to Africanizing the civil service, Bacassar nationalizes numerous French commercial concerns that remain in the country. He also announces a grand new plan, one that promises to transform the car. It's known as Operation Bocassa, a sweeping reform of the national economy. At the heart of the project is a radical program of collectivized agriculture, farming run by and for the state. A remarkably left wing scheme for a man who once pledged to rid the nation of the cancer of communism. Modern machines will be used to revolutionize the car's economic fortunes, producing vast quantities of coffee, cotton and other products to be sold on the world market. Inundated with crops and export profits, the CAR will become self sufficient. Never again will it need to rely on the largesse of the French or any other foreign power. At least that's the idea. In reality, the whole thing is a disaster. Inefficiency and lack of expertise ensure the plan is dead on arrival. But Operacion Bokassa does deliver on at least one of its objectives. It allows its eponymous mastermind to line his own pockets. The best agricultural equipment finds its way onto farms and plantations run by Bokassa and his crony. He conspires to take gargantuan shares of the diamond and ivory industries as well. As we saw in the opening scene of this story, it's through big game hunting that Picasso makes friends with Valerie Giscard d', Estaing, the louche French politician who visits the CAR to indulge his penchant for killing elephants.

Historian/Expert (39:06)

The safari hunting industry was probably at its apex during Bokassa's rule, Starting around the 1970s, the prices for ivory started to skyrocket. Bokassa's family took advantage of this, getting in on illegal ivory smuggling. But they certainly were not the only ones. And so during that period, you had a lot more hunters coming into the Central African Republic for things like ivory on a much bigger scale, killing more animals. The elephant population of the Central African Republic was completely decimated.

Narrator (39:44)

Once again, the lands of the CAR are being ruthlessly exploited to the benefit of those in power. And it's President Bokassa who is taking the biggest slice of the pie. He owns apartment buildings, factories and shops on his vast estate at Barengo. There are coffee and coke processing plants, an abattoir, a sawmill, a garment factory, a restaurant, and the headquarters of his two airlines. He pays low wages to his workers and knows that markets for his products are virtually guaranteed. If all else fails, he can sell them to the government at fixed prices. The President never submits accounts for any of his activities, nor does he pay any taxes. Many of the profits likely end up in his Swiss bank account. Boasse's various revenue streams buy him the bounty he feels he deserves. A series of chateaux dotted throughout France, which show the French that he belongs among them. He thinks he buys Chateau St. Louis Chavanon, modelled on Louis XIII's palace. A 400 hectare hunting lodge called La Cartanciere is surrounded by private woodland and meadows. And close to Paris, he owns the imposing Chateau d'. Hardricourt. As the decade progresses, Bosassar indulges more and more in his French luxuries. Yet the car's relationship with France itself becomes ever more rocky. In April 1974, a young French woman believed to be one of Bokassa's lovers is found dead in her bed. The French media point the finger at the Central African president. A furious Picasso bans French papers and expropriates the offices of a news agency. But his torrid private life is a continued source of gossip and speculation, and, on occasion, a matter of genuine national importance. For instance, it turns out Picasso's ban on polygamy doesn't seem to apply to himself. He marries a series of women who become known by their nationality or ethnicity. The Lebanese, the Romanian, the Cameroonian, the Chinese, the German, the Swede, the Vietnamese and the Zairoise. His favorite wife is said to be Catherine, known to Central Africans as Maman Kathy, whom he had stalked and then married while she was a teenage schoolgirl. Catherine has a talent for spending money. She becomes an avid collector of dolls and stuffed animals. Bacassa has dozens of children, though only about 30 are officially recognized. Papa Bock, as he's often called, is a proud father who teaches his children Sango and the folklore of his m' Baka people. Marie France Bokassa, one of the many children he recognized, later wrote a memoir entitled the Ogre's Castle.

Historian/Expert (43:02)

She paints an interesting portrait of her father as someone who was a strict disciplinarian, had very high standards for his children, and could be quite dictatorial also in his home life, but also someone who was very, very important to her as she was growing up. Now, one of the things that Marie France Bokasse writes about in her memoir is that one of the challenges that those kids faced was that their father had multiple wives and that the relationships among the children and some of these wives were not always easy and that some of those stepmothers could be in some cases, much more brutal than the father. And a lot of the siblings ended up caring for each other, particularly older siblings, older female siblings caring for younger siblings from a very young age, you know, from babies, depending on the status of the mother and whether she was still around in the picture or not. So it was quite a complicated childhood in some respects, but also a rich one in certain ways with this density of sibling ties.

Narrator (44:10)

But one unknown, has preoccupied the President since his days in Indochina. While on duty with the French army in the 1950s, Picasso fathered a daughter, Martine, who was born to a young Vietnamese girl. He becomes determined to track this daughter down. He begins to make inquiries via the French Consul General in South Vietnam. Sure enough, in 1970, a dark skinned girl called Martine Nguyen Thibai is found. She claims to be his daughter. Papa Bock is elated. Martine has grown up in a Saigon slum in a shack made of flattened beer cans and now makes a handful of coins each day, selling cigarettes on the streets to American servicemen. The girl is sent a plane ticket to Bangui, stopping off in Paris to collect a two and a half thousand franc stipend from the French government. She goes straight out and buys a Cartier watch. Like father, like daughter. Martine arrives in Bangi in the early morning where the President is standing on the tarmac with a welcome party, a fairy tale ending for Bacassa and this poor young woman from Saigon, the happiest of father daughter reunions. Not quite. Only a month later, a Vietnamese newspaper reveals that the girl is an imposter. So the search starts over, and this time there's no shortage of applicants. It turns out that back in 1953, the French actress Martine Carroll had been all the rage. Saigon is teeming with 17 year old half Vietnamese Martines. This time a birth certificate is produced for a new Martine who is working in a cement factory. As well as photographs of her mother with a young Picasso. Case closed. Both mother and daughter arrive in Bangi to be reunited with Pukasa. Surprisingly, he adopts the false Martin too. And then things get really weird. A bizarre competition is launched in which Central African men must vie to marry Bakassa's half Vietnamese daughters. A doctor at Bangui General Hospital wins the heart of the real Martinez. Captain Fidel o', Brieu, commander of the cadet school at Camp Kasai, marries the fake Martine. But soon trouble is brewing among the winners of Picasso's reality show style marriage stunt. Papa Bock suspects that Captain Obreu has married into his family to get closer to the heart of power. This time Picasso's paranoia is justified. Obreu detests his father in law and soon has found enough like minded military men willing to take power into their own hands. It won't be long until an opportunity comes their way. It's February 3, 1976. A pleasant, dry morning. A blessed relief from the oppressively sticky summer months. Picasso is due to fly north to a national park to go hunting. He arrives at Umpoko Airport, relaxed and cheerful at 9:30 and strolls towards the VIP lounge. He's blithely unaware of what's around the corner. Scattered throughout the terminal are Captain Abreu and several accomplices intent on attacking the president before he can board his plane. It's not the most subtle of plans. One of them will lob a grenade at Bakasa's feet. Three others outside the entrance will open fire after the explosion. Abru holds his breath as the president enters the terminal. Abru's man takes aim and hurls his grenade, only to see it fly past. Bokassa skid along the floor and nestle among some plants. There is pandemonium. People sprint away from the explosive. And then Nothing. No explosion. The grenade is a dud. Makassar is left without a scratch. In the ensuing chaos, Abreu attempts to flee, ultimately unsuccessfully. In the end, he's brought to the palace where Boassa, Catherine and several ministers await him. Obreu insists that he had no deadly intent. The grenade was only meant to stun Bokassa. Fat chance. That excuse is going to wash. On 12 February, the accused are taken to the Omnisport stadium. Half dressed and handcuffed, the men face a public trial, followed closely by Central Africans on the radio. But as with Alexandre Banza, the trial is a charade. By 7pm a verdict is reached. Obreu and several others are condemned to death. Lit up in the night by the headlights of a truck, they're executed. On December 12, Disney invites you to go behind the scenes with Taylor Swift in an exclusive six episode docu series.

Historian/Expert (49:46)

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Narrator (49:51)

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Historian/Expert (50:07)

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Narrator (50:24)

While physically unharmed, Bakassa is badly shaken by the assassination attempt. He isolates himself in his presidential palace, surrounded by personal guards, and begins to make some erratic decisions that are hard to comprehend. People must no longer call him Papa, he declares. Then, shocking everyone, Bakassa announces that David Dacko, the man he had overthrown and then banished to internal exile, is to join his cabinet as a personal counselor. A case of keeping your enemies close. Who knows? Second guessing the President is increasingly futile. The assassination attempt coincides with continuing economic strain exacerbated by a recent drought. Bokassa appeals to the French for help, but when they take a look at the books, they're horrified by what they see. No proper records of outgoings, nor any discernible budget. Rebuffed by his old friends, the President must look elsewhere. On September 1, 1976, Bacassa touches down in Libya to mark the seventh anniversary of the coup that brought Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to power. The extravagant Libyan strongman has long been promoting his unique version of Islamic revolution abroad, and Bacassa knows what he needs to do to turn on the money tab. When he arrives back in Bangi, he transforms his cabinet into a Council of the Revolution modelled on that of Libya. Then he announces proudly to a bewildered nation that he is converting to Islam. Among the CAR's population of 2 million, about half are Christian and half adhere to traditional beliefs. There is a tiny minority of about 20,000 Muslims now. Apparently, their supreme leader is one of them. On October 17, Gaddafi arrives in Bangi, beaming, kneeling on a white goatskin Brought over from Libya, Bakasse is officially initiated into Islam. At a city mosque, he will henceforth be known as Salah Ad Din Ahmed Bokassa. The national flag will carry a crescent next to its star.

Historian/Expert (52:59)

Converting to Islam is an initial statement that you make, but then after that it's really about what you do and whether you live as a good Muslim. And that takes a lot of time and a lot of things that you have to do in your daily life. So he may well have made the statement. I don't think he ever went all that much farther than that.

Narrator (53:19)

Members of the Council of the Revolution are incentivized to follow suit with gifts of up to 20 million CFA francs apiece should they too convert. Many refuse, but some do accept the money. Salah Ad Din Ahmed Bakasse gifts himself a sizable cash reward, too. Before he leaves the car, Gaddafi addresses a curious crowd at the Omnisport Stadium in Bangi and is the guest of honor at a banquet given at the Presidential Palace. He sits beside Bokassa, who wears traditional North African dress. The anticipated money soon arrives from Libya, and Bokassa is able to stave off the debtors a while longer. It's an important moment in the story of the car, the forging of a significant diplomatic relationship outside the orbit of French control.

Political Analyst (54:15)

That's an interesting constant in Central African Republic affairs is that it's a poor country with a very weak state, and the presidents constantly look for external support. And of course, in the first years this was from France, but over time it evolved. I've worked on Central African Republic for about 25 years. I first went there in 2012, and at the corner of every important street in Bangui there were jeep and soldiers from the Libyan army. So that relationship with Libya was certainly my first strong impression of being there.

Narrator (54:55)

What Picasso establishes between the CAR and Libya will continue in different guises with different presidents, long after his time in charge. Though perhaps predictably, his own personal turn to Islam isn't permanent. It's not long before the President is looking to shake up his image again. The failed assassination attempt is a crunch point, and he's now searching for ways to step back from the front line of politics while still retaining his exorbitant privileges. He looks towards two other leaders for inspiration. First, the late Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia. And second, one of his personal heroes from France, Napoleon Bonaparte. It's a light bulb moment for Bokassa. He believes that a new form of statehood might give him the lofty distance he craves Right on cue, the Sierra's sole political party, Meson invites Picassa to assume a new title, that of Emperor. Naturally, he accepts. On December 4, 1976, an imperial decree introduces a new constitution, and overnight the republic becomes an empire. Bangi shall remain the capital, but Bacassa will oversee proceedings from his his imperial court. At Barengo, his Muslim name is discarded as quickly as it had been adopted. He is now Okasa. The first affirmative responses to his commands should take the form of yes, Imperial Majesty. Negative responses, if absolutely necessary, must always be more respectful than a blunt no. This is the Emperor you're addressing, after all. And people crossing his path must salute from six paces by slightly inclining their heads. Picasso likes the look of this imperial life. There is only one thing the Emperor now needs to make it official a coronation. But it will take a form that nobody could quite predict. In the next episode, psasa the first is introduced to the world in a totally surreal manner, with white horses from Belgium, finery from France, and songs from a Broadway musical. The costs are eye watering and the car's finances continue to tumble. Unrest and instability start to take hold. A controversial policy about school uniforms leads to one of the grimmest and most tragic episodes in the country's history. And as the Emperor loses control, old friends become foes, old foes return from the dead and bakasses. The day of Judgment is at hand. That's next time in the final part of the Picassa story. You can listen to the conclusion of the Picassa story right now, without waiting and without adverts by joining Noiser plus, click the subscription banner at the top of the feed or head to noiser.comscriptions to get started. So good, so good, so good.

Historian/Expert (58:37)

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Advertiser/Commercial Voice (59:08)

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Historian/Expert (59:12)

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