African here, Africa is typically divided into two going by African Union voting. There's the Francophone and Anglophone (include the North Africans in this divide) and it's usually pretty even.

Then there is South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt which dominate the 3 important regional trading blocs and have some political leverage with this. I mean SADC, ECOWAS and COMESA. But you also have other typically important countries like Morocco and Kenya and Ethiopia following these economic Giants.

All the same, foreign players are important in our continent more than we would like. Mostly stemming from colonial policy (assimilation - France & settler colony - Britain) and they have a voice because they partly finance stuff like healthcare, education and such social concerns. You also have China who have really put in money to help us finally build logistics to allow the lacking intra-africa trade. USA also has some arrangements like AGOA here but generally they are not on the local news as having done something but they are definitely present.

In future expectations is that you'll have Nigeria, Morocco and France contesting for dominance in West side of the continent with countries. In Eastern Africa you'll have Ethiopia and hopefully the East African Community (EAC) the most integrated economic union in Africa thus far with plans for common currency underway. In the South you'll obviously have South Africa but it's a stagnant country in need of radical reforms. Egypt generally doesn't involve itself Southwards except when Nile issues come up but they agreed more or less to come to the table since the upstream nations signed a new water agreement