United States of Latin Africa

The United States of Latin Africa (Les Etats-Unis de l'Afrique Latine) was the proposed union of Romance-language-speaking African countries envisioned by Barthélémy Boganda. The countries to be part of this large federal entity were Angola, Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Chad, Cameroon, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. The idea's implementation was cut short with Boganda's death in a plane crash on March 29, 1959. Many economists today strongly advocate the creation of such a union of countries which would constitute a powerful market and create a more viable infrastructure for sustainable internal development and international trade.

The idea of United States of Latin Africa was criticised by Richard Wright in a special introduction to French readers of a translation of his book White Man, Listen!, on the bases that Latin Africa meant Catholic Africa and that it would create a religious division against secular English speaking Africa which he called Protestant Africa. According to Richard these ideas reflected only the attitudes of those Africans educated in France or England, the dominant European powers of that time. He called instead for a Pan-African approach.

See also

• Latin Africa
• Pan-African Federation

References