Mausolee Airport

Political and economic reasons. The airstrip was the private airfield for Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa's Berengo Palace. After he was deposed in a coup in September 1979, the new government abandoned the site as it was a symbol of the former regime's extravagance and served no further public or state purpose. It subsequently fell into disrepair.

The site is not an active or public airport. The former airstrip is unmaintained, overgrown, and unusable for most conventional aircraft. The entire Berengo palace complex, which includes the airstrip and Bokassa's mausoleum, has been repurposed as a major military training base. Since approximately 2018, it has been widely reported to be occupied and used by the Russian private military company, the Wagner Group, for training their own personnel and the Central African Armed Forces (FACA).

The airstrip, informally known as Mausolee Airport or Berengo Airstrip, was constructed to serve Jean-Bédel Bokassa, the ruler of the Central African Republic and self-proclaimed Emperor of the Central African Empire (1966-1979). It provided direct air access to his lavish Berengo Palace complex, located near Pissa. The airport handled his personal aircraft as well as government and military transports, facilitating his travel and the reception of dignitaries at his primary residence. The airstrip's existence is a testament to the opulence and personalized nature of the Bokassa regime. The ICAO code 'CF-0003' is a non-standard identifier, likely from a third-party database, as official ICAO codes for the country begin with 'FE'.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening the site as a public or civilian airport. Given its current strategic importance as a military base for the CAR government and its Russian allies, it is expected to remain under strict military control for the foreseeable future. Any potential use or rehabilitation of the airstrip would almost certainly be for military purposes only.