What country can be the strongest in Africa?

By that I mean with a POD of your choosing, make ANY African country, like make it the 'US' of Africa in which if any of its neighbors threaten it, that country will easily kick their ass. I want to say South Africa or Egypt are very strong contenders while Algeria and Libya for some reason seem like possibly good ideas as well...
 
South Africa and Egypt are some of the best at the moment.

Nigeria if they get rid of Boko Haram and resolve the worst of their overpopulation issues has a great chance.

Angola has a stunning good chance with all the resources available to it, as does the Congo, but the way things are going right now we'll see a booming and stable Angola before we see a booming and stable Congo.
 
An Egypt that isn't Hyper-addicted to digging the suez canal and is subsequently swarmed by European powers may fit the bill although the 19th century is difficult to produce a true Great power.
 
South Africa is the Brits integrated Botswana and southern Rhodesia into it, which then subsequently took over South West Africa for fair instead of just occupying it, would be a good shot. The problem there is you have to butterfly apartheid and make the nation's development help all of its people, not just the white ones, and that's a tall, tall order.
 
One of the motivations (not the biggest, mind you) for founding the European Union was to keep the African colonies. I recall that Germany was positive to it, too. With the right POD(s), I don't think it's too implausible for there to be some sort of conglomeration of African colonies. The result could be an African nation that covers most of the continent. Bonus points if the Europeans make some actual attempts to up literacy and industrialise.

EDIT: There is of course the potential for European-wide revolution following WWI, and what that would mean for the African colonies...
 
Have French West Africa emerge as a single country following independence. This presumably requires a divergence in the 1940's, and such a polity would have several things going for it, despite having vast tracts of desert and a great many peoples with little (initial) sense of shared identity.
 
One of the motivations (not the biggest, mind you) for founding the European Union was to keep the African colonies. I recall that Germany was positive to it, too. With the right POD(s), I don't think it's too implausible for there to be some sort of conglomeration of African colonies. The result could be an African nation that covers most of the continent. Bonus points if the Europeans make some actual attempts to up literacy and industrialise.

EDIT: There is of course the potential for European-wide revolution following WWI, and what that would mean for the African colonies...

A united African state probably wouldn't last... there's a whole lot of issues with integrating a continental landmass, especially when a vast majority of the populace has some issue or another with a different populace but then they will be expected to live together as fellow citizens...
 
Have French West Africa emerge as a single country following independence. This presumably requires a divergence in the 1940's, and such a polity would have several things going for it, despite having vast tracts of desert and a great many peoples with little (initial) sense of shared identity.

I am kind of planning to have this happening in my TL. The divergence being a large amount of French investment there during the war and after. It won't make West Africa a superpower overnight but the seeds planted will be enough to allow for the area to be overall on a better footing when it becomes independent TTL.
 

MSZ

Banned
How about Ethiopia? It was the only african country (apart from Liberia) to preserve it's independence throughout the colonial era. Could a PoD preventing Italian annexation allow it to grow more powerful and stable than OTL? I'm thinking about large foreign investments from non-imperial states going there due to it being the only country in Africa where it would be possible - cheap labour, resources, access to sea via Djibouti etc.
 
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