Ill intent of African state church (6)
I believe the answer is:
malice
'ill intent' is the definition.
(malice is ill intent or intent to do harm)
'african state church' is the wordplay.
'african state' becomes 'Mali' (country in Africa).
'church' becomes 'CE' (abbreviation for Church of England).
'mali'+'ce'='MALICE'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for malice that I've seen before include "Spite - desire to hurt" , "Bitterness" , "Spiteful, animosity, sometimes a forethought" , "Hatred" , "'Ill-will, spite (6)'" .)