The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 plus 4 letter word BURKINA FASO
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
B
U
R
K
I
N
A
F
A
S
O
More clues leading to the result BURKINA FASO
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "somewhere in West Africa" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case somewhere in west africa = burkina faso.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.