Mass held for Late Jean-Bedel Bokassa

[Alpha Koroma]

Mass held for former Central African emperor

BANGUI, Central African Republic (Dec 17, 1996 12:01 p.m. EST) -
Drums, electric guitars and songs in the native Sango language
resounded through Bangui cathedral Tuesday as the country held
a requiem mass for former self-proclaimed emperor Jean-Bedel
Bokassa who died last month.

Under crystal chandeliers that also illuminated the grandiose ceremony
in 1977 when Bokassa crowned himself emperor, Bangui Archbishop
Monsignor Joaquim Ndayen read a homily for the former leader, who
died of a heart attack on November 3 at the age of 75.

"We are not at Bokassa's trial. Let the crystal chandeliers that he gave
to the church be the site of his true illumination," Ndayen said.

The archbishop recalled his "endless difficult relations" with Bokassa,
a bloody and authoritarian ruler who was ultimately ousted, forced into
exile and then sentenced to death for human rights abuses.

But he said he wanted to forget Bokassa's "demands and his
extravagances" and remember the "conceiver and initiator of projects,
the builder."

Some 2,000 people gathered for the ceremony amid wreaths of flowers,
one of which praised "the great pioneer for the integration of women
into Central African society."

Former Central African soldiers of the French army lined the doorway
when Bokassa's body, dressed in a green uniform and covered with a
pink cloth, was brought into the cathedral.

At the end of the ceremony the coffin was taken out of the cathedral and
put on the back of a lorry before being driven away through a triumphal
arch pockmarked with bullet holes from the three mutinies that have
struck the country this year.

The president of the National Assembly Hugues Dogozendi and some
ministers were present at the ceremony in a private capacity. The
authorities decided, after some hesitation, not to pay official homage
to Bokassa.

However Prime Minister Jean-Paul Ngoupande came to pay his
respects, as did the chairman of the human rights league, Nicolas
Tiangaye.

Eleven of Bokassa's 55 children were also in church, sporting identical
purple outfits.

Outside, a member of the organizational committee was selling
T-shirts with pictures of Bokassa for 25 francs. The committee was also
charging press photographers 50 francs ($10) a shot and TV crews 500
francs per film.

Street vendors were selling eggs, coconuts and a magic herb that, they
said, "gives strength."

Bokassa will be buried Wednesday in his native village of Berengo.