At any point of departure, come up with a plausible series of events that leads to a nuclear war between at least two nations (as in two nuclear powers) on the continent of Africa. Such nations must be independent and cannot be European colonies.
Easy. The little green alien that only Gaddafi can hear tells him to nuke South Africa, which he does.IIRC the only African countries that actually had bomb programs were South Africa (which produced a few, and then gave them up), and Libya. Trying to imagine a war between those two boggles the mind.
Have South Africa disentigrate into a bloody race war in the mid 1980s. They are pushed back toward the cape and in a burst of desperation, use their small nuclear stockpile tactically against Cuban-spearheaded advances.
Things shit pan from there and the Soviet Union donates tactical warheads to the rebel forces who then nuke South African forces.
(This is more or less a TL I was planning hahah)
Easy. The little green alien that only Gaddafi can hear tells him to nuke South Africa, which he does.
I dont think the Soviets would ever donate tactical nukes - they didnt even hand over control to WP countries. But the rest, perhaps in conjunction with a something out of Rhodesia, maybe the Soviets back Mugabwe, seems like a rather terrifying but plausible scenario. Black insurrection in SA supported by Zimbabwe, the Soviets, and Cubans...