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Social media users have claimed that Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré had announced plans to unite African countries into the United States of Africa.
This claim, seen on X, has gathered 74 reposts, 54 comments, 435 likes, and 64,000 bookmarks (which is a way to privately save posts for later access), as of May 15, 2025.
Also, another X account with 1million followers posted the same claim, stating that Ibrahim Traoré wants to create the United States of Africa, where all African countries will come together as one. According to the post, there will be one government system, one currency, “Afro Money”, and one African passport.
This claim was also seen on Facebook, with some Facebook users resonating with it.
A user, Claudia Chuo commented that: “To me United States of Africa will not be differentiated from the United States of America. I wish we call it United Nations of Africa. U N A.”
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Another user, Ehichioya Asine stated that “This is the true light of Africa and may this wind of change blow through all nations of Africa continually in the name of the lord Jesus. Amen”
Ibrahim Traoré is a Burkinabé military officer and politician who has served as the interim President of Burkina Faso since 2022.
Traoré took control of Burkina Faso in September 2022, ousting interim president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba in a coup d’état.
Ibrahim Traoré has increasingly been admired by Africans and social media users, largely due to waves of viral social media content, some of which has been discovered to be false and AI-generated.
This wave of digital support, however, masks a more complex and concerning reality. While Traoré is celebrated online as a pan-African hero, his regime has been criticised for its authoritarian tendencies and human rights abuses
These contents, often inaccurate or misleading, portray him as a brave reformer who has stood up to Western influence and restored dignity to the Burkina Faso nation. These claims have spread widely on social media such as TikTok, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter), presenting Traoré as a commendable leader.
Seeing the growing pan-African sentiments, ROUNDCHECK decided to investigate this claim because it could mislead the public on a highly sensitive geopolitical issue and fuel disinformation around pan-African unity.
ROUNDCHECK Findings
ROUNDCHECK searched through various verified media platforms and noticed there have been no statements from Ibrahim Traoré supporting the broad goal of creating a United States of Africa.
However, his government has expressed support for a potential federation with Mali and Guinea. In September 2023, these three countries formed the Alliance of Sahel States, a grouping primarily focused on addressing security concerns in the region.
While this alliance could be seen as a step towards greater regional integration, it doesn’t explicitly align with the concept of a continent-wide United States of Africa.
ROUNDCHECK discovered that the “Afro Money” mentioned in the claim didn’t come from President Ibrahim Traoré but rather came from a Senegalese artist, Mansour Ciss.
“Afro Money” is an artistic currency project by Mansour Ciss for 14 African nations that used to be French colonies.
Furthermore, the removal of restrictions on the free movement of Africans across the continent has been a key goal of the African Union (AU), which launched the African passport project in 2016.
Although a continent-wide African passport for all citizens doesn’t exist yet, the African Union (AU) has introduced a new passport for its officials and diplomats, but the goal is to eventually make this passport available to all African citizens, enabling visa-free travel across the continent. This, however, is not being pushed by Ibrahim Traoré.
ROUNDCHECK checked the Burkina Faso government website, and nothing related to this claim was found. This also applies to the official government social media handles. (X and Facebook)
Verdict
The claim that President Ibrahim Traore planned to unite African countries into the United States of Africa is FALSE. ROUNDCHECK findings revealed that there is no evidence of such a claim at the time of this report.
This report was done under the Roundcheck Volunteer Network Cohort 4
