October 23, 1986: Exiled former Central African Emperor Jean Bedel Bokassa (right) is detained when he unexpectedly flew home from exile in France with his wife and five of his 15 children, government sources said. The 65-year-old former French army sergeant, who was overthrown in a 1979 coup, was picked up by security forces on arrival on board a scheduled Air Afrique flight from Rome. He was taken to Camp Roux, the seat of government, and later transferred to the Ngaragba prison, where he is alleged to have had many of his opponents tortured to death during his controversial 13-year-rule, they added. Following his ousting by French troops in 1979, two years after crowning himself emperor in a lavish ceremony of Napoleonic pageantry, he first settled down in Ivory Coast. Bokassa is being received by Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Njoroge Mungai when he made a stop-over in Nairobi enroute to Mauritius in May 1973.

Photo|Nation Syndication