Post falsely claims video shows Ethiopia’s deputy PM saying Amhara rebels want ethnic 'supremacy'
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on November 15, 2023 at 13:40
- 4 min read
- By Tolera FIKRU GEMTA, AFP Ethiopia
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The post was published on November 3, 2023 in Amharic and reads: “Demeke Mekonen said that the Fano struggle is an attempt by the chauvinist ruling Amhara group to regain their former supremacy.”
Viewed more than 180,000 times, the post adds that “Demeke Mekonen has expressed his Oromo identity in his own words … in this video”.
Demeke belongs to the Amhara people, the second largest ethnic group in Ethiopia after the Oromos.
Historically, elites from Amhara ethnic group had assumed a dominant position in the Ethiopian political system (archived here).
Amhara nationalists have criticised Demeke for being part of the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who is Oromo, at a time when government soldiers are fighting Fano rebels.
In this context, the post claims that Demeke has shown “his Oromoness” — inferring that he has abandoned his Amhara identity.
The post contains a video featuring Demeke speaking at what appears to be a press conference.
Speaking Amharic, Demeke says at the beginning of the video: “There are those who link the tragic attack in the Amhara region, which could be further clarified by the ongoing federal investigation, to an ethnic group and claim that the attack was the result of an attempt by the Amhara people to restore their former supremacy.”
Amhara conflict
AFP reported (archived here) on November 8, 2023 that fierce battles took place between the army and Fano in the historic town of Lalibela in the Amhara region.
Fano had controlled Lalibela a day before the army recaptured the town (archived here), residents said. Local sources told AFP that 16 police officers were killed in the fighting.
Federal troops and Fano forces have been waging war since July 2023 when Abiy’s government announced the disbanding of regional security forces. The Fano, a former government ally during the two-year Tigray war that ended in 2022, took up arms to resist the decision (archived here).
However, the footage on Facebook does not show Demeke accusing Fano of trying to restore Amhara ethnic "supremacy" in Ethiopia.
Killing of Amhara officials
AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video.
The search results revealed that the original video was published (archived here) four years ago by the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), a state-owned broadcaster. Back then, EBC was called Ethiopian Television (ETV).
The footage, published on July 8, 2019, was part of a news bulletin with a headline in Amharic reading: “#etv: The June 23 attack on senior officials in Amhara region was aimed at disbanding the ADP, said Demeke Mekonnen.”
ADP stands for Amhara Democratic Party, a ruling party in the region that later became the Amhara Prosperity Party.
AFP reported (archived here) on June 23, 2019 that senior Amhara state officials, including then regional president Ambachew Mekonnen, were killed during a “coup attempt”, allegedly carried out by a regional security chief who was later shot dead.
Demeke’s comments were broadcast two weeks after the officials were killed.
The original ETV video was four minutes long and began with Demeke addressing the alleged coup attempt.
“The messages contained in the calls made to media organisations after the tragic event was carried out in Amhara region show that the major target of the attack was disbanding ADP, dismantling regional systems and thereby unlawfully controlling power in the regional government.”
Demeke then spoke about the due process of law that was being followed to bring the perpetrators to justice and to restore stability in the region.
Further into his speech, at 2’25”, Demeke speaks the lines that were used in the false claim on Facebook: “What should be clear to the Ethiopian people is that there are those who link the tragic attack in the Amhara region, which could be further clarified by the ongoing federal investigation, to an ethnic group and claim that the attack was the result of an attempt by the Amhara people to restore their former supremacy.”
However, he adds: “This is a false allegation and discourse” and “it should be corrected immediately”.
AFP Fact Check has confirmed the video in the false post is an extract from the original video, which was presented out of context and in contradiction to what Demeke said at the time.
Furthermore, Demeke made no mention in either video of Fano’s armed resistance against the federal government, which started three years after his comments about the alleged coup.
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