Post Somalia, the US has shown absolutely no interest in participating in African ops (unless their is some "war on terror" aspect). In fact it has left responsibility for African policing exclusively to its European allies. Is Africa a likely candidate for a brush fire conflict? - you bet. Will the UK be expected to get involved? - most likley. Can we count on Uncle Sam for any support in Africa? - probably not.
This alone shows the govt's line of not participating in conflicts without the active support of the Americans as being utter Bo**ocks.
The Chinese are exporting the PL-12 missile and one of their biggest export markets has always been Africa.
See
here
Burying ones head in the sand and pretending that no threat exists defies logic.