A national forum recommended posthumous forgiveness for notorious Cold War despot Jean-Bedel Bokassa, accused of cannibalism and executing schoolchildren during his 13-year rule of the Central African Republic.
The reconciliation commission also yesterday said the image of the self-proclaimed emperor should be "rehabilitated," and all confiscated palaces and property should be returned to his impoverished family.
Yesterday's vote to clear the dictator's name followed an apology from his 31-year-old son, Jean-Serge Bokassa. He told the commission established by President François Bozize that the family was sorry for the "wrongdoing" of the elder Mr. Bokassa, who died of a heart attack in 1996 at 75.
"He was a builder. Unfortunately, the negative acts tarnished his image," the younger Mr. Bokassa said yesterday, echoing a view now held by many in the coup-ridden country, amid fading memories of the torture and growing nostalgia for the stability.
The commission approved a one-sentence rehabilitation recommendation by a show of hands, without comment.
General Bozize, installed in a March coup that ousted the elected president, is expected to approve the measure.
A former protégé of the emperor, he is believed to be anxious to help the elder Mr. Bokassa's 62 known children, many of whom now live in rags on the grounds of their father's once-sumptuous palace in the village of Berengo.
The Central African Republic was a French colony until 1960. Mr. Bokassa seized power in 1966 by ousting then-president David Dacko and was said to sleep surrounded by pots of gold and diamonds. AP