Time to take in strange rite in African country (7)
I believe the answer is:
eritrea
'african country' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'time to take in strange rite' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 'era' (I've seen this before**).
'to take in' indicates putting letters inside.
'strange' is an anagram indicator.
'rite' anagrammed gives 'itre'.
'era' enclosing 'itre' is 'ERITREA'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for eritrea that I've seen before include "Country to the north of Ethiopia" , "It declared its independence from Ethiopia in 1993" , "Northeast African country" , "nation" , "It became independent of Ethiopia in 1993" .)