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Worried about a bit of strife in an African country (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

chafed

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'worried about' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with contact as well as being past participle verbs.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'a bit of strife in an african country' is the wordplay.
'a bit of strife' becomes 'fe' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'an african country' becomes 'chad' (Chad is a country in Africa).
'fe' placed inside 'chad' is 'CHAFED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for chafed that I've seen before include "Became sore from rubbing" , "Abraded by rubbing" , "Irritated by rubbing" , "Rubbed" , "Made sore from rubbing" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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