Alexandre Banza (1932–1969) was a
Central African military officer and politician. As commander of the Camp Kassaï military base in 1965, Banza helped
Jean-Bédel Bokassaoverthrow the government of President
David Dacko. Bokassa rewarded Banza by appointing him as minister of state and minister of finance in the new government. In 1967, Bokassa and his
protégé had a major argument over the president's excessive extravagances. In April 1968, Bokassa removed Banza as minister of finance. Recognizing Bokassa's attempts to undermine him, Banza made a number of remarks highly critical of the president's handling of the government. Bokassa responded by abolishing the minister of state position. Banza soon decided to stage a
coup d'état. One of his confidants, Jean-Claude Mandaba, contacted the president and informed him of the date of the coup, 9 April 1969. Hours before he was going to execute his bid for power, Banza was ambushed by Mandaba and taken directly to Bokassa. Bokassa nearly beat Banza to death before Mandaba suggested that Banza be put on trial for appearance's sake. On 12 April, Banza presented his case to a
military tribunal, which quickly sentenced him to
death by firing squad. He was reportedly taken to an open field, where he was executed and buried in an unmarked grave. (
more...)
1967 – The Soviet space probe Venera 4(pictured) performed in-place analysis of the environment of
Venus and became the first spacecraft to land on another planet, although it stopped working before that.
One Plectroctena sp. ant attacks another of its kind to protect its territory. Plectroctena ants belong to the Apocritasuborder, which also includes
wasps and
bees. Members of Apocrita are characterized by the narrow "waist" (
petiole, seen here directly behind the rear leg on the right ant) formed between the first two segments of the actual
abdomen; the first abdominal segment is fused to the
thorax, and is called the
propodeum.
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