Hello,
As long as you have a device made for your region, it should work fine. Also, a requirement for the SIM is that it must have a Mini SIM – 2FF - form factor and operate at 1.8 or 3V. Other than that, African GSM is a rather vague term, however, I assume it operates the same way as in the rest of the world. The issues might stem from the degree of coverage, signal quality, operator, cell tower load, but these are all location specific, thus difficult to estimate without actually trying.
Best regards,