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This article analyses the development of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) activities in sub-Saharan Africa during the 1960s. It starts with a brief overview of the Red Cross movement’s work in the region before that decade. Then, the article sheds light on the difficulties that accompanied ICRC’s quest for legitimacy in the context of the end of empires. The ICRC tried to foster an image of a neutral, impartial, and international humanitarian organization. However, the Committee’s essentially Swiss composition, as well as some of the choices it made on the ground, blurred its image among the African leaders.