Editing Central African Republic (section)

====Bokassa and the Central African Empire (1965–1979)====
{{Further|Central African Empire}}
[[File:Bokassa with Ceausescu (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Jean-Bédel Bokassa]], self-crowned [[Emperor of Central Africa]]<ref name=Bokassa/>]]
On 31 December 1965, Dacko was overthrown in the [[Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état]] by Colonel [[Jean-Bédel Bokassa]], who suspended the constitution and dissolved the National Assembly. President Bokassa declared himself President for Life in 1972 and named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the [[Central African Empire]] (as the country was renamed) on 4 December 1976. A year later, Emperor Bokassa crowned himself in an expensive ceremony.<ref name=Bokassa/>

In April 1979, young students protested against Bokassa's decree that all school pupils were required to buy uniforms from a company owned by one of his wives. The government violently suppressed the protests, killing 100 children and teenagers. Bokassa might have been personally involved in some of the killings.<ref>"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7803421.stm 'Good old days' under Bokassa?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203043924/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7803421.stm |date=3 December 2013 }}". BBC News. 2 January 2009</ref> In September 1979, [[Operation Caban|France overthrew Bokassa]] and restored Dacko to power (subsequently restoring the official name of the country and the original government to the Central African Republic). Dacko, in turn, was again overthrown in a [[1981 Central African Republic coup d'état|coup]] by General [[André Kolingba]] on 1 September 1981.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/02/world/army-tropples-leader-of-central-african-republic.html|title=Army Tropples Leader of Central African Republic|last1=Prial|first1=Frank J.|date=2 September 1981|work=The New York Times|access-date=19 September 2019|last2=Times|first2=Special To the New York|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=21 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521051018/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/02/world/army-tropples-leader-of-central-african-republic.html|url-status=live}}</ref>