Country cut out from calamitous alternative (7)
I believe the answer is:
somalia
'country' is the definition.
(I know that Somalia is African country)
'cut out from calamitous alternative' is the wordplay.
'cut out' becomes 'cut' (synonyms).
'from' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'alternative' indicates an anagram (an alternative ordering of the letters).
'calamitous' with 'cut' taken away is 'alamios'.
'alamios' with letters rearranged gives 'SOMALIA'.
(Other definitions for somalia that I've seen before include "Mogadishu its capital" , "E. African state" , "Easternmost country of Africa" , "Horn of Africa country" , "Country of East Africa" .)