While Sankara and Lumumba were killed before their 38th birthdays, here’s why dictators Idi Amin, Mobutu and Bokassa died old men

Jean-Bédel Bokassa

The Former President of the Central African Republic died at the ripe old age of 75. Dying only from heart attack on November 3, 1996 at his home in Bangui and not from assassination.

Bokassa became the Central African Republic’s (CAR) second president before naming the country an empire with him as emperor. Bokassa led a military coup against David Dacko, the president of the Central African Republic throwing him in jail and turning the country into a fiefdom all with the support of you guessed right, France.

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Bokassso couldn’t have stayed in power for so long without the backing of the French. His brutal reign over the long suffering people of the CAR only came to an end with the 1979 coup backed by the French leader D’Estaing. Jean-Bédel Bokassa often boasted that the CAR did not incur any debt with his coronation as France gave $20 million for the event, stating that it was a little gift for all his services. By services he meant France having unhindered access to the mineral and other resources of the country. Since his fall from the good graces of the French, he complained bitterly of being treated shabbily by France when he had provided great services to its politicians at the very top. Perhaps this African leader serving the interest of France died from a broken heart.