Africa Calling - Ep6: Final attack in Tigray, crackdown in Uganda, African governance index, Nigeria insecurity, Burkina Faso elections & Gambia chocolate

Africa Calling podcast looks at some of the week's top stories from the African continent, including reports from the field and analysis with regional experts. This week we’re talking about the final assault on Mekelle, Ethiopia and how the crackdown on the Uganda opposition is impacting election campaigning. We also hear what the latest Mo Ibrahim governance index reveals about democracy on the African continent; how bandits in Nigeria’s Zamfara State are killing and kidnapping locals, the re-election of Kaboré in Burkina Faso, and a fledging chocolate industry in The Gambia. Ethiopia  Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said this week that federal government forces would begin their final assault on the Tigrayan regional capital Mekelle. Authorities in Addis Ababa had issued an ultimatum to the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) against whom Abiy launched an offensive following an alleged attack on federal troops in the Tigray region. UN Security Council members discussed the war in Ethiopia this week, but issued no statement, amid accusations of human rights abuses with the massacre of 600 civilians in Tigray.  “There’s airstrikes going on, the military is marching on - it’s a miracle it took them just 3 weeks to take over the whole state with the exception of Mekelle, the capital,” says Ethiopia correspondent Samuel Getachew.  Uganda  The death toll from protests and a crackdown by security forces over the arrest of musician-turned opposition politician Bobi Wine rose to 45 people this week, with Ugandan police saying some 800 people were arrested. Last week's riots, ahead of the country’s elections slated for 14 January, were seen by many as some of the worst in decades. Wine was accused of flouting measures designed to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, as he ramped up his campaign in the country’s presidential polls. But critics accuse incumbent President Yoweri Museveni of using Covid-19 as an excuse to clamp down on political opposition.  “There is no possibility of the election b