Central African Republic, 1979 — foreign-backed coup

Coding note: the dataset labels this a foreign-backed coup, accurately, as it was a French military operation (Caban and its follow-up Barracuda) that removed Bokassa and installed Dacko; Bokassa was abroad in Libya and fled into exile, matching the dataset's fled-the-country fate. Date nuance: sources give the operation as the night of September 20 to 21, 1979, with Dacko's proclamation on September 21 (the dataset date). Atrocity context handled neutrally: Bokassa's regime is recorded as responsible for widespread abuses, including the April 1979 massacre of schoolchildren (commonly cited as around 100 killed at Ngaragba Prison), in which he was implicated by an African panel; these are recorded as documented, and the later cannibalism allegations raised at his trial are noted as allegations, not established fact. Later fate flagged: Bokassa was sentenced to death in absentia, returned voluntarily in 1986, was tried and convicted of murder and other crimes, had his sentence commuted, and was freed in 1993, later events. Contested framing recorded: the intervention was described both as removing a brutal tyrant and as a neocolonial act (a French diplomat called it France's last colonial expedition); both characterizations are attributed to sources. Arc: Dacko was himself overthrown by Kolingba in 1981, a separate later event.