Elements of war republic? (6)

I believe the answer is:

rwanda

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'elements of war republic?' is the definition.
'rwanda' can be an answer for 'republic?' (I've seen this before). I'm unsure of the 'elements of war' bit.

'of war republic?' is the wordplay.
'of' indicates anagramming the letters (the answer comes from or 'of' the letters).
'republic?' becomes 'nda' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'war' is an anagram of 'rwa'.
'rwa'+'nda'='RWANDA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rwanda that I've seen before include "Scene of a genocide in 1994" , "African country, capital Kigali" , "Nation" , "African republic" , "Republic in central Africa" .)

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

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.