Overlooked and forgotten: seeking a place for Africa in the Indo-Pacific

In recent years, we have witnessed a proliferation of strategic positioning on the Indo-Pacific (IP) from various important players on the international stage. Indeed, the European Union has identified the IP as a priority for its foreign policy in the coming decade, owing to the projection that this will be a key theatre for pivotal issues on the international agenda, notably due to the ongoing geopolitical battle between the powers of East and West. However, Africa is often overlooked and left out of these strategic debates. This is not helped by the fact that most African states seem to have little to no strategic thinking that encompasses the IP. What, then, is Africa's role in the IP? This article explores how existing strategic thinking from important regional and international powers position the IP, what thinking is emerging from Africa pertinent to this region, and how African states can assert themselves to forge a place in it.