Sub-Saharan space at a geopolitical crossroads

The paper´s topic is focused on Africa´s growing strategic value to global powers in the light of the strategic downgrade defined by the uncertain world, global decoupling, and erosion of political globalization, but at the same time the greater interconnection of several African regions with Europe or Asia. Gone are the days of R.D. Kaplan´s Africa falling apart concerns. Africa´s central location (in the geographic sense), the growing relevance of regions such as Trans-Sahara, the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, or particular countries such as Djibouti, and Cape Verde due to their strategic location, security threats, or energies puts it in the middle of strategic rivalries. The fact that von der Leyen, C. Michel, and J.Borell (3 top EU leaders) visited Addis Ababa within the first three months of their mandate in 2019 was a clear signal of the growing strategic importance of Africa for the foreign policy of the EU. Also, the scale of non-Western powers´, Russia´s return to Africa, and engagement in Africa are historically unprecedented. The new geopolitical reality of the continent is the geopolitical battleground of competing for strategic narratives, which put Africa at a geopolitical and geoeconomic crossroads. To achieve these strategic goals, non-Western countries such as Russia are running orchestrated efforts to diminish the role of the West on the continent. The aim of the contribution is to analyze the impact of the multi-polar strategic rivalry on the geopolitical structure of the sub-Saharan space, which for long years overlooked by western strategists.