Foreign Policy at the Periphery by Bevan Sewell

Author:Bevan Sewell [Sewell, Bevan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780813168470
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2017-01-15T07:00:00+00:00

Between the beginning of 1960 and the end of the Katangan secession in January 1963, twenty-three African nations became independent. In taking almost everyone by surprise, the rapid decolonization of the continent stoked the flames of the Cold War and created a heightened sense of anxiety within the policymaking establishment of both superpowers—an anxiety reflected by President Eisenhower, who in his memoirs described African nationalism as a “flood force” and “a torrent overrunning everything in its path.”120 Within this geopolitically turbulent atmosphere, Congo, Africa’s symbolic heart and economic treasure, began to unravel. Whereas it was viewed as a quiet diplomatic backwater only months before, its descent into anarchy seemed to compel superpower intervention and pushed the young nation into the spotlight of the global conflict.121 In the high-stakes conflict-by-proxy that erupted between the two superpowers in the Congo, the usual suspects were joined by an unlikely and often reluctant group of accomplices.

American evangelical missionaries played a central role in the unfolding drama that was the Congolese independence-era crisis. First, as a result of their consistently intimate and humanitarian involvement with the people of the Congo over the course of several generations, American missionaries played a critical, if unintentional, role in promoting among many Congolese pro-American sympathies and political sensibilities that proved decisive in the otherwise anti-Western environment of independence-era Congo. Second, acting out of character but in line with the deep bonds they had developed with portions of the Congolese people, missionaries in Katanga also aggressively lobbied US politicians and public opinion for a change in America’s Congo policy and, in doing so, became a major threat to US policy objectives in the region. Finally, and conversely, thanks to their unparalleled understanding of the Congo and a simultaneous loyalty to both the United States and the Congo, some American missionaries, such as Howard Brinton, became key players in the important but unsuccessful attempts to bridge the gap between US interests and the interests of various Congolese factions.

In the sixty years leading up to independence in the Congo, American evangelical missionaries had gone about their humanitarian and spiritual work in blissful anonymity. However, when the Congo unexpectedly burst into the global spotlight in 1960, the relational, cultural, and political capital that they had accumulated suddenly assumed considerable Cold War significance. Accidental diplomats or not, American evangelical missionaries proved to be a pivotal factor in the Cold War conflict that was the Congo.

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