Crossword Genius

Horrible curses borne by an African capital (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

loathsome

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

'horrible' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'curses borne by an african capital' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'curses' could be 'oaths' ('oath' can be a synonym of 'curse') and 'oaths' is found within the answer.
'capital' could be 'lome' (Lome is an example) and 'lome' is located in the remaining letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for loathsome that I've seen before include "gross" , "Repulsive" , "Hateful" , "15 [ABHORRENT]" , "Disgusting, nauseating" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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