Operation Caban was a bloodless military operation by France in September 1979 to depose Emperor Bokassa I, reinstate the exiled former president

David Dacko David Dacko (; 1927 – 21 November 2003) was a Central African politician who served as the first president of the Central African Republic from 14 August 1960 to 1 January 1966, and 3rd President from 21 September 1979 to 1 September 1981. Af ...

, and rename the

Central African Empire From 4 December 1976 to 21 September 1979, the Central African Republic was officially known as the Central African Empire (french: Empire centrafricain), after military dictator (and president at the time) Marshal Jean-Bédel Bokassa declared ...

back to

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

History

By January 1979, Emperor Bokassa had become a widely resented autocrat. His fall was precipitated by a decree that all high school students must buy uniforms from a business owned by one of his wives. This led to protests by students in

Bangui Bangui () (or Bangî in Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi ...

and rocks thrown at the Emperor's car. In April 1979, Bokassa called in the

Central African Armed Forces The Central African Armed Forces (french: Forces armées centrafricaines; FACA) are the armed forces of the Central African Republic and have been barely functional since the outbreak of the civil war in 2012. Today they are among the world's we ...

to put down the agitation and arrest the teenage students. In the following two days, about 100 children were brutally killed and the incident became known as the "children's massacre at Bangui." A panel of judges convened and proposed to arrest and try Bokassa for the massacre. Bokassa then fled to Libya, seeking

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

's assistance. The French reacted and soon launched

Operation Barracuda Operation Barracuda was a military operation by France during 1979-1981, to return to power the former President of the Central African Republic, Mr David Dacko. It followed up Operation Caban of 21 September 1979, a bloodless military operation in ...

to overthrow Bokassa and install

, who was then in exile in Europe. French troops arrived from

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

and

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

, and the coup was successful, restoring Dacko to the presidency after a 13-year absence, and restored the

(CAR). Bokassa was given refuge in France. Bokassa eventually returned to the CAR in 1987, where he was immediately arrested and sentenced to death, commuted to life in prison a year later. As one of his last acts in office in 1993, President

André Kolingba André-Dieudonné Kolingba (12 August 1936 – 7 February 2010) was a Central African politician, who was the fourth President of the Central African Republic (CAR), from 1 September 1981 until 1 October 1993. He took power from President David ...

granted a general amnesty for all prisoners, including Bokassa, who died three years later. The coup was known as Operation Caban, while the movement of four French

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World ...

troupes de marine The (TDM, ) is a corps of the French Army that includes several specialities: infantry, artillery, armoured, airborne, engineering, and transmissions (Signals). Despite its name, it forms part of the Army, not the Navy. Intended for amphibio ...

'' and four helicopters was

. The coup was completed on 21 September 1979 in just a few hours. The affair did not bring accolades to France: while many in CAR supported the coup, many in France including President Giscard-d'Estaing were criticised for their handling of the situation.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caban, Operation 1979 in the Central African Republic Central African Republic–France relations Military operations involving France Conflicts in 1979