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I was thinking- in OTL, the only nation in Africa that escaped colonization for any long amount of time was Abyssinia. I'm guessing that's because of its long Christian status, which led the European nations to consider it rather "civilized." With that in mind, two ideas for the possibility of two African nations not getting civilized, and becoming second world nation powers along the way-
1. Abyssinia becoming a vassal state of Russia. They've both got the Orthodox connection, just consider Alexander Pushkin. Perhaps under the loose foreign protection of St. Petersburg, Abyssinia is more developed?
2. Kongo was a very piously Catholic nation in its day. What if they continued to be thought as a Christian, and hence civilized nation, and escaped its internal strife?