Crucial opening for Africa involves northern country there (5)
I believe the answer is:
kenya
'country there' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'crucial opening for africa involves northern' is the wordplay.
'crucial' becomes 'key' (I've seen this before).
'opening for' says to take the initial letters.
'involves' indicates putting letters inside.
'northern' becomes 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland).
The first letter of 'africa' is 'a'.
'key'+'a'='keya'
'keya' going around 'n' is 'KENYA'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for kenya that I've seen before include "Nairobi's country" , "East African nation" , "East African country" , "Its capital is Nairobi" , "state?" .)