Attack in African country briefly stopped by leader in uprising (4)
I believe the answer is:
maul
'attack' is the definition.
(to maul is to viciously attack)
'african country briefly stopped by leader in uprising' is the wordplay.
'african country' becomes 'mali' (country in Africa).
'briefly' means to remove the last letter.
'stopped by' is an insertion indicator (stopping can mean blocking a gap).
'leader in' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'uprising' is 'u'.
'mali' with its final letter taken off is 'mal'.
'mal' placed around 'u' is 'MAUL'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for maul that I've seen before include "Injure with claws" , "Injure seriously -- heavy hammer" , "Injure badly by beating" , "Handle savagely" , "Loose 10 (in rugby)" .)