History shows what was behind European humanitarian missions in Africa

For decades, humanitarian aid has been the epicenter of Western engagement with the African continent. Africa has been largely depicted as a continent lacking essential needs, from food and medicine to governance and human rights. While this act is largely encapsulated in the ideals of cooperation and generosity, history offers a reminder that beneath some of them lie hidden dark secrets that perpetuate a sense of dependency and efforts that hinder Africa's progress.

Behind the masks of civilizers

Historically, deceptive benevolence disguised as humanitarianism dates back to the colonial era, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After the discovery of vast natural resources by the 19th-century explorer and journalist Henry Morton Stanley, Belgium's notorious King Leopold II contacted him and convened the Brussels Geographical Conference in 1876.

The conference was promoted as a humanitarian mission to 'civilize' the region, end the Arab slave trade, sponsor Stanley's expeditions, and open the Congo to global commerce - which in practice meant trade in looted goods by colonial invaders. In 1877, King Leopold II called for the establishment of the International African Association (IAA), ostensibly a humanitarian organization governed by a board of explorers and geographers.

Although Stanley's expeditions were largely financed by the New York Herald, The Telegraph, and royalties from the sale of his writings, he was British and hoped to persuade Britain to colonize the part of Africa where the resources had been found. His efforts were cut short, however, as the British government was reluctant to add the Congo to its already burdensome colonial holdings around the world, especially during a domestic recession.

Recognizing that Leopold's proposed 'humanitarian' organization would not simply occupy the territory but serve as a vehicle for trade in looted resources, Stanley endorsed the idea. Funding soon followed from Dutch and British businessmen. Yet Leopold sought to conceal his personal imperial ambitions, placing trusted associates in key positions within the organization.

A notable example was Colonel Maximilien Charles Ferdinand Strauch, who acted as both a businessman and the IAA's largest financial contributor. In reality, the funds came directly from Leopold's personal wealth, funneled through Colonel Strauch. This created the illusion that the association was managed by an independent international board rather than serving as Leopold's private instrument of colonial expansion.

Betrayal of the Congo

King Leopold II skillfully used the International African Association (IAA) to secure more than 450 so-called 'treaties' with local Congolese chiefs. Under the guise of friendship and trade agreements - many drafted in European legal languages - the chiefs unknowingly leased their lands and vast natural wealth to him.

To further mislead the world about his real intentions in the Congo, Leopold established another body in 1879, the International Association of the Congo (IAC). Unlike the IAA, his leadership role in the IAC was openly acknowledged, yet he continued to present it as a humanitarian organization. Until 1885, even informed observers often confused the two entities, blurring the line between philanthropy and plunder.

Leopold's deception went so far that he deliberately avoided attending the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, where Africa was carved up among European powers. His absence was strategic - a performance designed to suggest disinterest in the Congo's economic spoils and commitment instead to a noble mission of 'humanitarian assistance'.

This pose paid off. Through his friend and former US ambassador to Belgium, Henry Shelton Sanford, Leopold lobbied President Chester Arthur to recognize the IAA as a legitimate humanitarian organization. In April 1884 - seven months before the Berlin Conference began - the United States formally extended that recognition, citing the association's supposed campaign against the slave trade and its support for 'free trade'.

Once Washington had given its blessing, European nations gathered in Berlin were effectively pressured to follow suit. Recognition of Leopold's claim to the territory paved the way for what would later be called the Congo Free State - a grotesque misnomer. Two-thirds of the country became the king's personal property. The people were forced to meet brutal production quotas at prices he unilaterally set, and those who failed paid with their lives. To conserve ammunition, Leopold's soldiers were ordered to bring back a severed hand for every bullet fired - a grim symbol of a humanitarian mission turned genocide.

"Keep watch on disinteresting our savages from the richness that is plenty in their underground"

The 19th century witnessed the rapid spread of Western Christian missionaries across Africa, though their presence dated back as far as the early 15th century. These organizations presented themselves as non-governmental and non-profit, devoted to 'championing the rights' of African peoples through what they called civilization. In their view, it was a moral duty to 'civilize' Africans - meaning to impose European values, culture, and worldview.

To gain the trust of local populations, missionaries often focused first on converting community leaders. The logic was simple: once rulers embraced Christianity, their subjects would inevitably follow.

Missionaries also founded schools to advance their 'civilizing mission'. Institutions such as Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone and the Basel Mission schools in present-day Ghana and elsewhere in Africa were designed to train Africans in European ideals under the banner of education. The strategy proved highly effective. African converts - often with the backing of local chiefs - helped finance missionary activities. In Uganda, for instance, fees and donations collected in local churches amounted to twice the financial support missionaries received from the colonial government.

Yet despite this substantial local investment in education, the colonial authorities maintained firm control over both the missionaries and the school system. In 1883, King Leopold II sent a letter to missionaries in the Congo, instructing them to teach Christian values in ways that aligned with the colonial government's political agenda:

"Your essential role is to facilitate the task of administrators and industrials, which means you will go to interpret the gospel in the way it will be the best to protect your interests in that part of the world. For these things, you have to keep watch on disinteresting our savages from the richness that is plenty in their underground.

"Institute a confessional system, which allows you to be good detectives denouncing any black that has a different consciousness contrary to that of the decision-maker. Teach the niggers to forget their heroes and to adore only ours."

"The children have to learn to obey"

To advance their imperial ambitions, colonial governments poured money into sectors that could most effectively indoctrinate local populations - often at the urging of missionaries themselves. The British colonial administration, in particular, provided grants to institutions such as Fourah Bay College, which later became affiliated with the University of Durham in Britain and served as a training center for missionary clergy, colonial administrators, and clerks.

In Ghana and Nigeria, the passage of the 1882 Education Ordinance Act formalized colonial support for missionary education through curriculum development, teaching materials, and the promotion of the English language. This curriculum glorified the British Empire and its literature while portraying Africa as a primitive, barbarous continent "without history." As Margery Perham, a British historian and lecturer in colonial administration, wrote in 1951:

"Until very recent penetration of Europe the greater part of the continent was without the wheel, the plough or the transport animal; without some stone houses or clothes except skins; without writing and so without history."

This alignment ensured that educational policies served colonial objectives. By shaping minds through carefully designed curricula, colonial authorities could appoint even semi-educated individuals as local rulers - men who would readily submit to imperial dictates.

As King Leopold II wrote to the missionaries in 1883:

"Your action will be directed essentially to the younger ones, for they won't revolt when the recommendation of the priest is contradictory to their parent's teachings. The children have to learn to obey what the missionary recommends, who is the father of their soul. You must singularly insist on their total submission and obedience."

"We had the Bible, and they had the land"

When Africans resisted such indoctrination, missionaries often turned to military force through the backing of colonial governments. This was the case with the German-Swiss Basel Mission's activities in the Ashanti region of the Gold Coast, now Ghana. The missionaries lobbied the British House of Commons and provided intelligence on the organization of the local population, paving the way for the colonial military subjugation of the Asante people and their rulers.

The conflict stemmed from the Asante's deep commitment to their traditional religion, cultural practices, and military strength - all of which stood in the way of the missionaries' deceptive 'benevolence'. Many African chiefs shared the Asante's fate. In Botswana, for example, the missionaries campaigned for the removal of Sekgoma Letsholathebe (1835-1870), who was subsequently detained for five years under the authority of the British colonial high commissioner.

What was called a 'civilizing mission' ultimately revealed itself as an enduring project of imperial domination. As South African theologian Desmond Tutu once put it:

"When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible, and we had the land. They said, 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened, we had the Bible, and they had the land."