I was referring to modern history and the big boys. US, Russia and latterly china. There is plenty of interference, i accept its a bit more subtle than latin America but thats not really saying much. The fight for resources, dodgy deals, people getting killed can be traced the length and breadth of africa zed
It's kind of more complicated than that.
The US had a quite lengthy period of not getting involved.
The UK hasn't been that active for quite some time now.
The Soviets were quite active but Russia has only recently started poking its nose in and only in limited locations.
China has been very active throughout and the Turks and Arabs are starting to get involved again after a long period of inactivity and the Indians are sniffing after a piece of the pie now as well.
Whilst there has been a lot of external influence in African affairs this has been more concentrated in certain countries and regions.
For example, the English speaking Commonwealth countries have been much more immune to external interference than the Francophone countries, Arab speaking countries or Lusophone countries.
Also there was a period of around 20 years when the west (apart from France) had very little interest in African affairs and this basically handed over Africa to China on a plate which has weakened democracy, led to human rights abuses, high levels of indebtedness, increased levels of corruption and generally makes it more difficult for any non-Chinese (including even the locals themselves) to do business.