United States of Sub-Saharan Africa (USSA)

The meaning of the United States of Sub-Saharan Africa (USSA) 

The absence of industrialization or its decline in certain countries, the increase in extreme poverty in a context of rapid population growth, and the proliferation of ethnic and religious conflicts that could sometimes have been avoided if development and prosperity had been achieved. These are the criticisms often levelled by sub-Saharan Africans at the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the African Union (AU) since their creation in Ethiopia in May 1963. It must therefore be acknowledged that all international institutions have failed, with their silo-based and fragmented development aid policies (ODA) costing more than two trillion dollars over this period. At a time when an unprecedented humanitarian and security crisis is looming, it now seems urgent to change the paradigm. This is the aim of the more pragmatic United States of Sub-Saharan Africa project, which has set itself the goal of industrializing sub-Saharan Africa in less than 20 years.

The creation of a homogeneous economic community of sub-Saharan African states facing the same demographic and malnutrition issues could prove appropriate. Neither a federation nor a supranational authority, this model of cooperation, which would not undermine state sovereignty, could promote economic integration, solidarity, and regional stability. More economically operational and executive than political and administrative, the group will sometimes have to set aside ideologies in order to better reconcile the imperatives of environmental preservation and industrialization, which will reduce extreme poverty. This alliance, which is more beneficial than restrictive for its members, could initially attract 20 to 40 countries and eventually bring the entire region together around the program.

The transformation of informal activities and jobs will then provide new tax resources, and each state will be able to finance and build more and more infrastructure and public services independently. The pooling of resources and collaboration within new value chains spread across sub-Saharan African countries will generate cohesion and help to ease ethnic conflicts and relations between African nations. The central role of women in the project will help to curb population growth within two generations and thus prevent the humanitarian chaos that is predicted.

It should be emphasized that the United States of Sub-Saharan Africa (USSA) project is resolutely distinct from the pan-African political concept of the “United States of Africa,” which advocates a single, authoritarian federal state. First proposed in 1924, the idea was revived in the 1940s and relaunched in 2007 by Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi. However, these attempts to establish the United States of Africa as a political federation have never gained the support of African countries, which intend to retain their sovereignty.

60 years of official development assistance (ODA), 50 years of ECOWAS, the OAU plan in 1980 and the AU plan in 2015, or the policies of international institutions, the industry of sub-Saharan Africa has never taken off and has sometimes regressed in certain countries. Perhaps it is time to change the model

Towards a reduction of official development assistance (ODA) to a minimum?

1,500 billion euros of public money have been spent on inefficient development aid (ODA) to sub-Saharan Africa over the past 6 decades, often as a result of wastage. Scattered across a myriad of organizations with costly operations, donations rarely serve the initial objective of economic development. The USA recently announced the elimination of 92% of funding for USAID programs abroad, and European ODA could fall by 30 or 40% over the next few years. The countries of sub-Saharan Africa will be among the most affected.

The creation of a United States of Sub-Saharan Africa would be appropriate

The overly broad framework of the African Union (AU) prevents it from uniting its members, and its multiple objectives have ultimately led to 60 years of inaction. We must not repeat the same mistakes. The direction must be precise and the vision clear. Belonging to the same continent does not automatically motivate all countries to unite. Take the US, for example, which has little understanding of Canada, Central America, and South America. Economic, historical, cultural, sociological, and geopolitical factors must be taken into account. But even when countries are not very different in many respects, as is the case in the EU, large wage disparities can pit workers against each other and lead to widespread dumping. An economic union of states with mostly divergent interests is rarely beneficial to all its member countries. A harmonious model must therefore be built. For example, sub-Saharan Africans often view the policy that has been promoting a Europe-Mediterranean-Africa axis for the past 20 years as a form of proxy colonization or condescending and humiliating economic hierarchy.

Why the creation of a United States of Sub-Saharan Africa would make sense

A United States of Africa that would bring together North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa within a single organization would make little more sense than a United States of America that would bring together North, Central and South America, whose history, culture, sociology and geography would not bring them together. An economic union of countries with different interests is generally of little benefit to its member countries. Examples include the OAU and the AU, whose illegible multiplicity of objectives has ultimately resulted in stagnation for 60 years, or the EU, whose huge disparity in wages pits workers against each other and generates dumping within the EU. Moreover, sub-Saharans often consider that the policy advocated over the last twenty years of a Europe-Mediterranean-Africa axis is a form of colonization by proxy, or a condescending and humiliating economic hierarchy.

The genesis of the industrialization program

United States of Sub-Saharan Africa (USSA) is the fourth part and the synthesis of economic work undertaken over several years, including the Plan for Regionalization of Production Europe Africa, which advocates significant collaboration between Europe and Africa to transfer the industrial know-how and technologies essential to development, the Program for the Industrialization of Sub-Saharan Africa in Less Than 20 Years, which sets out a concrete plan of 1 trillion euros financed by a dedicated fund, and Africa Atlantic Axis, which charts new export routes for African industrialization. The International Convention for a Global Minimum Wage would accelerate the eradication of extreme poverty and malnutrition. The solutions put forward are themselves the result of our research and thousands of pages written over more than 15 years on the subject of the structural and financial imbalances destroyed within Western economies and the responses to be provided, some of which have been published in the French and foreign media.

The program of industrialization will be organized as follows: 30% will be devoted to the creation of 100 modern and secure industrial and commercial activity zones in around 40 countries. 40% will go towards loans to local and foreign companies, and investments in high-potential projects. 30% will be used to build 100 ecological cities close to industrial zones that will accommodate 150/200 million inhabitants.

What funding ?

The investment fund dedicated to the “Sub-Saharan Africa Industrialization Program” will have 1 trillion euros over 20 years. It will be supplemented by private capital and the transfer of a portion of the annual allocation (224 billion dollars in 2023) of bilateral and multilateral official development assistance (ODA) provided by the 32 countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). We could also channel some of the $300 billion in annual loans or grants promised to developing countries under COP 29.

It is certain that the donor countries will prefer to convert their public money into private capital placed in an investment fund that will preserve and reward them. This good management of public funds previously spent ineffectively on the development of aided countries will satisfy everyone. The amounts will be deductible from the annual aid contributions proportional to the gross national income (GNI) recommended by the UN. Nevertheless, until the industrial projects produce results, we will have to use compensation mechanisms and rely on external investments in order to meet profitability requirements and thus guarantee a minimum return to investing countries from the first year. The clear direction of our financial and industrial ecosystem concept, which will blaze new trails, will appeal to a world of finance and business seeking opportunities in a changing global geopolitical environment. Published the Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Francis Journot is a consultant, entrepreneur, and economic researcher. He is the founder of the United States of Sub-Saharan Africa (USSA) project and the Program for the Industrialization of Sub-Saharan Africa, also known as Africa Atlantic Axis. He is also the initiator of the International Convention for a Global Minimum Wage.