This article is part one of a series in celebration of a new, dynamic voice in Black America: the NUBIANO Exchange. Brace yourself for the NUBIANO experience. 
by Jonathan Pourzal
“The evolution of the role of NGOs in development represents the continuity of the work of their precursors – the missionaries and voluntary organizations that cooperated in Europe’s colonization and control of Africa.” -- "NGOs: A Tainted History," New African, August/September 2005
In recent years, popular interest in Africa and the concept of ‘assistance’ to Africa, from both Western governments and citizens, has increased. But popular understanding about root causes of poverty and war in Africa has not increased, and therefore, the increased attention is not a positive phenomenon. Without understanding the core of a problem, one should not attempt to fix the periphery. Western celebrities build good PR by visiting destitute and war-affected regions, Western governments pledge to be doing all in their power to “help,” and hundreds of international advocacy NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are working to ‘fight poverty’ in Africa. So, why hasn’t poverty in Africa decreased?
The continent was divided into arbitrary pieces in the Berlin Conference of 1885 amongst the European imperialist powers, “entitling” them each to some territory. This occurred with very little knowledge or concern for the regional diversity of Africa, and its main purpose was to prevent conflict among European powers competing for African natural resources.
Ironically, the European elites justified their conquest with reasoning that parallels today’s Western justifications for similar actions: the interventions were humanitarian. (For greater detail, refer to the first few chapters of King Leopold’s Ghost.) American scholar Michael Klare correctly classifies modern interventions as “resource wars,” in rebuttal to right-winger Samuel Huntington’s claim that these conflicts are an inevitable “clash of civilizations.”
Imperialist divide and conquer policies exacerbated and stratified the existing cultural, geographical, and ethnic divisions of the continent. After African “independence” was granted in the 60s and 70s, war and conflict ravaged many African regions - continuing into the present day. The conditions ripe for war were only worsened by Soviet and U.S. interventions during the Cold War.
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