Directions to girl in the republic (7)

I believe the answer is:

senegal

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'the republic' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'directions to girl' is the wordplay.
'directions' becomes 'sene' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'to girl' becomes 'gal'.
'sene'+'gal'='SENEGAL'

'in' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for senegal that I've seen before include "Country surrounding the Gambia" , "Former French colony in Africa" , "Land" , "W African republic" , "Nel ages here in Africa" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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