Doctored video falsely claims Ethiopian rebel commander was executed

The post contains a caption written in Afaan Oromoo that translates to “sad news”.

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Screenshot of the post with the altered video, taken on November 7, 2023

The post, published on Facebook on October 23, 2023, has been shared more than 260 times.

It contains a 61-second clip comprising pictures of Marroo fading in and out against a backdrop of burning candles while separate footage embedded near the top of the screen shows a news anchor welcoming viewers. “We will present the main news of the day. First, sad news,” he says.

The footage goes on to show news presenters purportedly talking about the OLA commander’s execution by Ethiopian police.

The OLA is an armed wing (archived here) of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a political opposition organisation that was exiled for more than two decades and returned to Ethiopia in 2018 after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office.

In the same year, however, the OLA took up arms once again after rejecting the Abiy government’s political reforms, claiming it did not represent a genuine democratic transition. The OLF, meanwhile, split from its armed wing.

In May 2023, the Ethiopian government and the OLA started peace talks in Zanzibar, Tanzania, but these ended without agreement (archived here).

Fighting subsequently continued in the Oromia region after the talks failed, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (archived here).

As AFP reported, the warring parties returned to negotiations on November 7, 2023 in Tanzania, reviving hopes of achieving a peaceful solution (archived here).

However, the video claiming to document news of Marroo’s death is a hoax.

Doctored video

AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video.

The searches led to a news video aired by OMN on October 13, 2022 (archived here). The same presenter wearing an identical suit opens the bulletin.

“We will present the main news of the day. First, sad news”, the presenter says — the same introduction as in the doctored video.

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Screenshots of the same journalist in the 2022 video (left) and in the altered video (right)

On this occasion, the report that follows deals with the killing of a member of the Central Committee of the OLF, Moibon Bekele.

Local media reported (archived here) that Moibon was shot dead on the night of October 12, 2022 in Addis Ababa. The dates align with OMN's original report.

After the introduction, the altered video then cuts to audio purportedly from another news presenter, who is not on screen.

“The commander of the Oromo Liberation Army Jaal Marroo Diriba was taken from prison and executed by the police of the Nobel Peace winner,” says the male voice.

“Nobel Peace winner” refers to Abiy who won the prize in December 2019 (archived here).

The name of the prison is not given but after a pause, a female news presenter then appears and says that “they were detained in Biriti town a week ago and were taken out of the prison on March 5, 2021 at 8 PM and brutally killed by Prosperity soldiers”.

Biriti is a town in Oromia. The term “Prosperity soldiers” refers to government troops — the Prosperity Party is led by Abiy.

The date cited by the female anchor is at odds with the claim as it refers to an incident that happened more than two years ago and appears to have involved more than one individual. Furthermore, Marroo has never been detained.

AFP Fact Check conducted further reverse image searches of keyframes from this section of the altered clip and found another video published by OMN on YouTube on March 9, 2021 (archived here).

This video was originally 21 minutes long and contained various news items, most of them about Oromia region and reported in Afaan Oromoo.

At 3’02”, a male voice says: “Commander of Oromo Liberation Front Jaal Maroo Diriba says we are close to victory”. Minutes earlier, the same narrator says “Police of Nobel Peace winner”.

In November 2021, AFP reported that Marroo was anticipating victory and claiming his forces were advancing towards the capital Addis Ababa, which is geographically surrounded by Oromia (archived here).

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Map of conflict in Ethiopia in November 2022 ( Gal ROMA / AFP)

Then, at 12’50”, a female presenter – the same anchor seen in the hoax video – reports on the alleged execution of civilians in the north Shoa zone, in Biriti.

She says: “In Selale, in a place called Biriti, a pregnant woman and five young men were taken out of prison and executed. These were detained in Biriti town a week ago and were taken out of the prison on March 5, 2021 at 8 PM and brutally killed by Prosperity soldiers”.

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Screenshots of the same female reporter in the 2021 video (left) and the altered footage, taken on November 7, 2023 

AFP Fact Check determined that these original reports consisting of older audio and footage have been spliced and rearranged to give the false impression that OMN purportedly said that “the commander of the Oromo Liberation Army Jaal Marroo Diriba was taken out of prison and executed by the Nobel Peace Prize winner's police”.

AFP Fact Check contacted OMN who confirmed the video announcing Marroo’s purported death was fabricated.

“This is fake. We didn’t report the execution of Jaal Marroo,” said Dejene Gutema, OMN’s executive director.

Moreover, Marroo is alive.

Local media reported (archived here) that he personally attended the second round of peace talks between the Ethiopian government and the OLA, which began in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on November 7, 2023 — two weeks after the Facebook video claimed he was dead.

AFP has reported (archived here) about the resumption of the peace efforts, indicating that the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an East African regional organisation, has taken the lead in facilitating the talks.