Qualla: Berengo https://qualla.com/berengo en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:34:05 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Berengo https://qualla.com/berengo Berengo: Introduction https://qualla.com/berengo/ On 4 December 1977, the same day a former French army captain placed a gilded crown on his own head in a Bangui stadium, Berengo became the official residence of His Imperial Majesty Jean-Bedel Bokassa, Emperor of Central Africa. The ceremony was modeled detail by detail on the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte, the man Bokassa idolized above all others. The empire it inaugurated lasted barely two years. The palace at Berengo, set among the forests of Lobaye southwest of the capital, still stands, half-swallowed by vegetation, a monument to one of the twentieth century's stranger and crueler reigns.

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/s/y/berengo-wp/s2sy-berengo-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Berengo: A Throne in the Forest https://qualla.com/berengo/ Bokassa did not build a palace so much as a small private state. At Berengo, his home village, he laid out an airport, separate residences for himself and for Empress Catherine, individual apartments for his advisors, and lodgings for his ministers. The compound was meant to decl...

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/s/y/berengo-wp/s2sy-berengo-a-throne-in-the-forest.mp3 0:06 2 full Berengo: The Children of Bangui https://qualla.com/berengo/ The reign ended in blood. In early 1979, Bokassa ordered every student in the country to buy uniforms made by a company tied to his family. Many families could not afford them, and when the students refused, protests spread through the capital until the schools and the police wer...

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/s/y/berengo-wp/s2sy-berengo-the-children-of-bangui.mp3 0:06 3 full Berengo: The Tiled Grave https://qualla.com/berengo/ Bokassa stunned everyone by returning from exile in 1986, expecting a welcome. Instead he was put on trial for murder, treason, and worse, convicted, imprisoned, and eventually released. He died in 1996 and was buried at Berengo, the seat of his vanished empire. The tomb is no gr...

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/s/y/berengo-wp/s2sy-berengo-the-tiled-grave.mp3 0:06 4 full Berengo: New Soldiers in Old Halls https://qualla.com/berengo/ Berengo never stayed empty for long. In 2013, during the civil war that tore through the country, some 2,000 Seleka fighters occupied the palace and turned it into a training camp. When an Anti-balaka offensive drove the instructors out that December, a few hundred fighters were ...

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]]> Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/2/s/y/berengo-wp/s2sy-berengo-new-soldiers-in-old-halls.mp3 0:06 5 full