Video of Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni warning CNN journalist on election coverage is doctored
- Published on November 28, 2025 at 17:43
- 3 min read
- By Peris GACHAHI, AFP Kenya
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Global news outlet CNN recently published an investigation into post-election violence in Tanzania, presented by their correspondent Larry Madowo. The report sparked uproar after showing evidence of police killing protesters and possibly using mass graves to hide the deaths, following the disputed October 2025 polls. In the aftermath of the coverage, a clip circulated online purportedly showing Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni warning Madowo against doing similar reporting in the country’s upcoming January 2026 election. But this is false; the original footage is from 2023 and was altered to include AI-generated audio.
“Museveni warns larry madowo not to step his feet in uganda during next year's general elections ‘You will see fire’ (sic),” reads a Facebook post published on November 26, 2025, and shared more than 400 times.
“Those international media sometimes are inciting, especially when African countries have elections,” Museveni appears to say in the clip.
“Next year we’ll be having general elections here in Uganda. Please tell people like Larry Madowo not to step their feet here,” he seemingly adds, warning, “I saw what you did in Tanzania. But I don’t want to see you here in Uganda. You’ll see fire. Stay away!”
Tanzanian unrest
Tanzania’s October 29, 2025, election ended with President Samia Suluhu Hassan winning with 98 percent of the vote, in a poll from which her main rivals were barred from contesting (archived here and here).
The election was marred by protests, an internet blackout, and claims of heavy-handed security crackdowns (archived here and here), with rights groups expressing concern over potential large-scale human rights abuses (archived here and here).
CNN aired an investigation presented by Madowo examining these allegations and showing evidence of police brutality, bodies lying in morgues and possible mass graves of protesters who were allegedly murdered (archived here).
In response, Tanzanian authorities decried the report and said they were verifying its contents (archived here and here).
The US senate foreign relations committee condemned the Tanzanian government over the violations and called for an independent investigation (archived here).
The European Parliament has since adopted a non‑binding resolution that calls for suspending EU funding to Tanzania under the 2025 Annual Action Plan, and urged consideration of targeted sanctions against individuals responsible for human rights abuses committed during the disputed election (archived here).
However, the video does not show Museveni warning against similar reporting in the country’s upcoming polls in January 2026.
Doctored video
AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches on keyframes from the clip and found a longer version of the footage published on YouTube by Ugandan media channel UG Files, on November 6, 2023 (archived here).
The video’s title reads: “HARD TALK: GERMANY PRESS ASKS MUSEVENI TOUGH QUESTIONS | WISE RESPONSE.”
In both videos, the UG Files logo is visible, and Museveni can be seen sitting behind the same microphone in a white shirt, with the Ugandan and East African Community (EAC) flags positioned beside him next to a bouquet of flowers.
At no point in the original interview does Museveni utter the words heard in the Facebook clip.
Instead, he responds to questions on his decades-long stay in power, youth unemployment, regional economic integration, treatment of opposition leaders and what he perceives as foreign interference in African affairs, among other issues in Uganda.
Based on his hand gestures, the altered clip appears to have been lifted from 0’56” where he says: “As you can see, Africa is a very rich continent. But we had a number of problems. One of them was a small population.”
He also mentions Tanzania in a different context at 33’57” into the interview, in response to a question about the role of China in Africa in relation to Western powers.
“In 1964, Zhou Enlai, the Prime Minister of China that time, visited Tanzania, your former colony, and pledged to build a railway line from Tanzania up to Zambia. It was called Tazara, and they built it,” Museveni says, in what he refers to as a “little history” on communism.
While the Facebook clip’s audio appears to mimic Museveni’s voice, the unnatural lip movements and odd pacing indicate use of AI-generated lip-sync manipulation, used to create deepfakes.
AFP fact Check analysed the audio using InVID-WeVerify's audio detection tool, and the results suggested strong evidence of voice cloning.
We found no credible reports on Museveni commenting on the recent CNN investigation on Tanzania’s election violence.
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