Europe has no moral right to lecture Africa on human rights, given European colonialists’ crimes, which include slavery, g*nocide and theft of treasures. That’s the view of Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao, former African Union Ambassador to the United States. She delivered these remarks at the National Action Network Convention 2023, held 12-15 April 2023, in New York.
One of the most gruesome colonial crimes occurred in the Congo, where Belgian King Leopold II’s colonial government massacred an estimated 10 million to 15 million Congolese from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Belgian colonial authorities later executed the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ‘s first prime minister and visionary Pan-Africanist, Patrice Lumumba (1925-61). They dissolved his body in acid, leaving a tooth, which was repatriated 61 years later in 2022.
Imperial Germany also committed what some scholars refer to as the 20th century’s first g*nocide against the Nama and Herero peoples in Namibia in 1904-08. The British are guilty of imperial violence, with an example being the g*nocide of Mau Mau freedom fighters in Kenya (1952-60). Other colonial powers, like France, continue to violate the rights of Africans through economic exploitation, requiring its former colonies to store their money in Paris. To this day, remains of Africans killed in anti-colonial wars can be found in European museums.
Video credit: National Action Network
Sources:
https://www.justiceinfo.net/en/103353-lumumba-tooth-returned-still-waiting-truth.html
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/18/uncovering-truth-british-empire-caroline-elkins-mau-mau
https://www.britannica.com/topic/German-Herero-conflict-of-1904-1907
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2022/11/6/reckoning-with-genocide-in-namibia
https://www.cadtm.org/Africa-How-France-Continues-to-Dominate-Its-Former-Colonies-in-Africa
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/africa-stolen-artifacts-colonial-deaccessioning-repatriation/
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/opinion-unfair-french-economic-relations-with-africa/2073357