Jean-Bédel Bokassa Part 2: The Power Grab, the Châteaux and the Missing Daughter

Real Dictators

NOISER

Fiction, Drama, History

4.8 • 8.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A new year brings new beginnings in the Central African Republic. President Bokassa attempts to modernise. But at the same time, the mass incarcerations and torture ramp up and corruption takes hold. And then things get really strange… An imposter infiltrates Bokassa’s homelife. A bizarre public competition is launched to marry off the president’s daughters. And the leader takes a significant trip to Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya… A Noiser podcast production. Narrated by Paul McGann. Featuring Louisa Lombard, Richard Moncrieff, Gino Vlavonou. This is Part 2 of 3. Written by John Bartlett | Produced by Ed Baranski and Edward White | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Fact check by Heléna Lewis | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design & audio editing by Jacob Booth | Assembly editing by Dorry Macaulay, Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cian Ryan-Morgan | Recording engineer: Joseph McGann. You can listen to the final episode of the Bokassa story straight away, without waiting and without ads, by joining Noiser+. Just click the subscription banner at the top of the feed or go to noiser.com/subscriptions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's July 1972.
0:05.0	From the backseat of a sleek Mercedes car,
0:09.0	Jean-Belle-Bocasse, President of the Central African Republic,
0:13.0	looks out at the country he's ruled for the past six years.
0:24.3	This is a nation without much experience of independent life.
0:30.8	Since liberating itself from the French Empire in 1960, Bacasa is only the C.A.R.'s second president after his cousin, David Daco, who Bacasa removed by force in a military coup.
0:38.3	Things are progressing nicely for the self-appointed saviour of the fledgling nation.
0:44.3	He is growing concerned, however, about the moral compass of his subjects,
0:51.3	and feels it might be time to teach them a lesson they won't forget.
0:55.7	Not long ago, a group of men were caught stealing tires in the car park of the presidential palace.
1:02.0	He ordered his guards to cut off their ears using scissors.
1:07.1	Pleased with his spontaneous act of justice, Boccasa has since ordered that this be the standard punishment for theft nationwide.
1:15.6	A thief will lose one ear for the first offence, the other for a second offence, and their right hand for a third.
1:23.6	Surgeons must carry out the operations within 24 hours of sentencing.
1:30.3	Bokasa steps out of his Mercedes before the gates of Ungaragba prison, aka the devil's
1:38.3	hole. A small door is open for him to enter unannounced. The president stooped through the door, before straightening up and taking in the central courtyard and the dilapidated cell blocks which surround it.
1:53.0	The prison guards clock the arrival of their leader and recoil nervously.
2:00.0	Nothing must go wrong while their vengeful commander is touring the facility.
2:05.1	A rat shoots out from beneath a stack of chairs in one corner of the yard,
2:09.6	and a guard boots it back under the pile with a muffled squeak.
2:13.8	He quickly glances over to where Boccassar is standing,
2:17.2	but the president, thankfully, is looking the other way.
	...

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