The Cold War was a truly global phenomenon and by the 1960s the African continent had emerged as one of its main battlegrounds

The Cold War was a truly global phenomenon and by the 1960s the African continent had emerged as one of its main battlegrounds. Please, explain the role postcolonial Africa played in the Cold War. Why were the superpowers so fixated on Africa? What did independent African states stand to gain or lose from the ideological contest between the two superpowers (the United States vs. the Soviet Union)? (Recommended sources: lecture notes, primary sources on Blackboard, relevant chapters from Laumann and Reynolds, relevant parts of the two films we watched in class - "The Battle of Algiers" and "Lumumba")