African country reflecting about mother’s ruin (5)
I believe the answer is:
niger
'african country' is the definition.
(country in Africa)
'reflecting about mother's ruin' is the wordplay.
'reflecting' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'about' becomes 're' ('re' means regarding or about).
'mother's ruin' becomes 'gin' (informal term for gin).
're'+'gin'='regin'
'regin' in reverse letter order is 'NIGER'.
(Other definitions for niger that I've seen before include "The black" , "River, Africa's largest delta" , "22 across (anag) -- northwest African river" , "Landlocked W African republic" , "River of West Africa" .)