Latest news with #Amharic
AFP
6 days ago
- Politics
- AFP
Video of Ethiopian mayor admitting she confided in rebel group is fake
'Adanech has leaked secrets,' reads the text overlay on a video posted on Facebook on May 18, 2025. Image Screenshot of the altered post, taken on May 26, 2025 The post contains a 22-second clip that shows Adanech speaking at a gathering. 'My ex-husband was Amhara, and we had one daughter together. Following our minor dispute, he joined the Fano forces,' Adanech appears to say. Fano is a militia group in Ethiopia's Amhara region that has been fighting against the Ethiopian army since July 2023. 'He is currently fighting with our government, but we often talk over the telephone since he is my daughter's father,' Adanech appears to add. 'Sometimes he mocks me and says: 'We are heading to Addis Ababa, are you ready?'.' The text accompanying the post reads: 'You Amhara men, did we not tell you not to marry women from any other ethnicity, but Amhara only?' Adanech is Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group. Similar posts were also shared here and here on Facebook. Addis Ababa development Ethiopia is experiencing armed conflicts in its two major regions: Oromia and Amhara. AFP's investigations revealed that the warring parties are using advanced disinformation tactics to smear their opponents, which is contributing to ethnic polarisation (archived here). Adanech has also faced trouble closer to home. AFP has reported on the demolition of historic buildings in the heart of Addis Ababa as part of Ethiopia's extensive urban development projects (archived here). Critics say the urban renewal scheme, known as the Addis Ababa Corridor Development Project, has not only wrecked buildings but also the history and identity associated with the area. Last month, Amnesty International called on the Ethiopian government to immediately halt the projects that it says have led to 'forced evictions' (archived here). Adanech has defended the projects as a benefit to society as a whole by creating wide roads, cycle paths and children's playgrounds. However, her speech purportedly revealing how she had leaked sensitive information to Fano was altered. Unrelated speech AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video. The results established that a longer original video was published on the official YouTube channel of state-owned broadcaster Addis Media Network (AMN) on May 18, 2025 (archived here). An Amharic caption accompanying the video reads: 'Mayor Adanech Abebie noted that the city residents have benefited from the project accomplished in collaboration with business owners.' The video begins by showing dilapidated houses in cramped neighbourhoods, followed by testimonials from residents who say their lives have been improved by the new homes built by the city. About a minute into the original video, Adanech begins speaking in Amharic about housing projects for low-income residents in the district of Addis Ketema: 'I remember it was even difficult to get into those areas and do the excavation work because it was very confined there.' 'This situation has changed and pleasant residential buildings with good streets and playgrounds for children have been built in the area,' she adds. At no point did Adanech mention a former husband or Fano rebels. Artificially-generated audio The false Facebook post took a passage from Adanech's original speech (from 4'02' to 4'22'), slowed it down slightly, and replaced her words with AI-generated audio. Image Screenshot of the original video (left) and the false clip, taken on May 27, 2025 While the audio is in Amharic, the accent is off. There are also clear discrepancies between the words and Adanech's lip movements. For example, during the phrase 'minor dispute and he mocks me', her lips barely move. These are all clear signs that the audio was AI-generated. AFP Fact Check also ran the audio through an audio deepfake detector called DeepfakeTotal. Image Screenshot of the results generated by Deepfake Total, taken on May 27, 2025 The results showed a more than 99 percent probability that the audio was artificially created. AFP Fact Check has previously debunked AI-generated videos on a range of topics in Ethiopia, such as here, here and here.
AFP
21-05-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Execution video from 2021 filmed in Ethiopia's Tigray region, not in Amhara
The 19-second clip posted on Facebook on May 15, 2025, is accompanied by text in Amharic that reads: 'Do not ask me why I must support Fano. Do not ask me why I hated the prosperity party and soldiers in military uniform.' The Prosperity Party governs Ethiopia. Image Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on May 19, 2025. The video, which has been shared more than 470 times, also contains a text overlay in Amharic which translates to: 'Amharas are being massacred. Please share this video with all.' The harrowing footage shows people wearing military uniforms rounding up and shooting an unarmed group in civilian clothes in a dry, hilly area. A similar post was also shared on Facebook. Amhara conflict After the Ethiopian federal government decided to disarm all local paramilitary groups in April 2023, the Fano militia – who were former allies during the Tigray war – turned against the state and a fresh conflict began in the Amhara region (archived here). AFP reported in March 2025 that the fighting has caused a humanitarian crisis: several million children are out of school and many hospitals are no longer functioning (archived here). In the same month, federal forces said they had killed nearly 300 Fano fighters, while reports indicated that the government had lost control of much of the rural areas in the region. Last year, Amnesty International reported that the Ethiopian army had carried out extrajudicial executions of civilians in Amhara (archived here). However, the footage circulating on Facebook is unrelated to current events in the region. Mahbere Dego massacre AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the video. The results established that a longer version of the clip, just over 90 seconds in length, was published on a gore site on June 17, 2021. Show Hide Content warning Show Image Screenshot of the longer version original video, taken on May 20, 2025 Hide The English caption reads: 'Ethiopia: Soldiers Executing Civilians (Longer version)', adding that 'it happened in Tigray, Ethiopia, where people say they are living a genocide'. A week later, Bellingcat, an independent organisation known for its digital investigative reporting on armed conflicts, published a report about this specific footage, which had been circulating on social media at the time, and concluded it was similar to other videos it verified of a massacre by Ethiopian soldiers in Mahbere Dego in the Tigray region sometime in January 2021 (archived here). Bellingcat's report included screenshots from the footage, which we matched to the video in the Facebook posts falsely claiming the events depicted were filmed recently in Amhara. Show Hide Content warning Show Image Screenshots from Bellingcat's report (left) and the false post, taken May 20, 2025 Hide CNN also aired part of the video a few days after Bellingcat published its findings. 'New video of Ethiopia massacre shows soldiers documenting executions,' the CNN caption reads (archived here). Months earlier, in April 2021, Belligcat ran an in-depth report on the Mahbere Dego massacre based on similar footage it believed was filmed in the same place and at the same time (archived here). BBC Africa Eye also published a similar investigative report about the massacre in the same month (archived here). The war in Tigray, pitting the Ethiopian military against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), cost more than 600,000 lives before a peace agreement was signed in Pretoria, South Africa, in November 2022 (archived here). Both sides were accused of atrocities (here and here) against civilians (archived here and here).
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Posts falsely claim Sudanese paramilitary announced attack on Eritrean navy
A Facebook post, published in Amharic on May 11, 2025, contains a headline that reads: 'Breaking news: Eritrean navy has been attacked by drones.' 'Lt General Hemedti's news outlet, RSF, reported earlier today that Shabia navy forces and the remnants of al-Burhan's forces were buried deep in the Red Sea,' the post says. 'Shabia' refers to the Eritrean government. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commonly referred to as Hemedti, is the leader of Sudan's RSF paramilitary. Since 2023, the RSF has been fighting against the country's armed forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The two military men were once allies who ousted long-serving president Omar al-Bashir in 2019 before becoming rivals in the ongoing civil war. The post continues: 'The report, accompanied by photos and published yesterday, said that the next targets will be Asmara and the port of Massawa.' Massawa is an Eritrean port on the Red Sea. 'The Shabia anti-piracy warships were deployed to the coastal areas to defend al-Burhan, while Lieutenant General Hemedti's RSF attacked Port Sudan with modern drones for three days in a row,' the post adds. Eritrea has a small navy force with high-speed boats that patrol the Red Sea (archived here). The post is accompanied by three images: the first two show plumes of dark smoke in a port setting, while the third shows a map of eastern and northern Africa. AFP Fact Check found that the claim is being shared in a coordinated manner on Ethiopian Facebook accounts. An overview of these accounts shows that most of them publish pro-Ethiopian government content and include the words 'breaking news', 'update', or 'media' in their names. These include posts shared here and here . Since the civil war began in April 2023, fighting between Sudan's regular army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million (archived here). It is feared that the war could further destabilise the conflict-ridden Horn of Africa by involving foreign armed groups and regional powers. Egypt has backed al-Burhan, while the United Arab Emirates has backed Daglo. Eritrea has reportedly supported al-Burhan's army by providing several military training camps, which the Eritrean government has neither denied nor confirmed (archived here). Last month, al-Burhan visited Asmara and hailed Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki's support for his country (archived here). Amidst these developments, the RSF carried out a rare drone attack on Sudan's eastern city of Kassala, near the Eritrean border, on May 3, 2025 (archived here). Three days later, AFP reported that RSF was accused of drone strikes on the airport, fuel depots and a power substation in the city of Port Sudan (archived here). Meanwhile, Ethiopia's pursuit of access to the Red Sea has also led to regional tensions with Eritrea and Somalia. While Ethiopia and Somalia have fully restored their diplomatic ties following a peace agreement earlier this year, Ethiopia's rivalry with Eritrea continues (archived here). However, contrary to the posts shared on Ethiopian social media, the RSF has not announced that it attacked Eritrean navy vessels, nor do the accompanying photos support this claim. There have been no announcements from RSF claiming any attack against Eritrean navy vessels. AFP Fact Check reviewed RSF's official website and established that no mention was made of any such attack (archived here). Moreover, we found no credible reports about Eritrean navy vessels being hit in any RSF drone attacks. AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and found the original photos used in the posts. The search results for the first image established that the original photo was captured by Reuters photographer Khalid Abdelaziz on May 6, 2025, when Port Sudan was hit by drones. The caption reads: 'A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from a fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025.' The search results for the second photo revealed it was originally captured by Anadolu, a Turkish news agency, on the same date (archived here). Its caption reads: 'Smoke rises after explosions at South Port of the city of Port Sudan, Sudan, on May 06, 2025. According to local sources, a series of loud explosions were heard in the area, followed by fires breaking out at the port.' Reporting by AFP and other media describe fuel depots being hit but make no mention of any navy vessels being struck. The third image shows a map of armed groups in the Sudan civil war and their alliances with foreign forces, which was published in an article by the BBC (archived here). Despite the claims in the post, none of the images depict Eritrean navy vessels being struck.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Posts falsely claim Sudanese paramilitary announced attack on Eritrean navy
A Facebook post, published in Amharic on May 11, 2025, contains a headline that reads: 'Breaking news: Eritrean navy has been attacked by drones.' 'Lt General Hemedti's news outlet, RSF, reported earlier today that Shabia navy forces and the remnants of al-Burhan's forces were buried deep in the Red Sea,' the post says. 'Shabia' refers to the Eritrean government. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commonly referred to as Hemedti, is the leader of Sudan's RSF paramilitary. Since 2023, the RSF has been fighting against the country's armed forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The two military men were once allies who ousted long-serving president Omar al-Bashir in 2019 before becoming rivals in the ongoing civil war. The post continues: 'The report, accompanied by photos and published yesterday, said that the next targets will be Asmara and the port of Massawa.' Massawa is an Eritrean port on the Red Sea. 'The Shabia anti-piracy warships were deployed to the coastal areas to defend al-Burhan, while Lieutenant General Hemedti's RSF attacked Port Sudan with modern drones for three days in a row,' the post adds. Eritrea has a small navy force with high-speed boats that patrol the Red Sea (archived here). The post is accompanied by three images: the first two show plumes of dark smoke in a port setting, while the third shows a map of eastern and northern Africa. AFP Fact Check found that the claim is being shared in a coordinated manner on Ethiopian Facebook accounts. An overview of these accounts shows that most of them publish pro-Ethiopian government content and include the words 'breaking news', 'update', or 'media' in their names. These include posts shared here and here . Since the civil war began in April 2023, fighting between Sudan's regular army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million (archived here). It is feared that the war could further destabilise the conflict-ridden Horn of Africa by involving foreign armed groups and regional powers. Egypt has backed al-Burhan, while the United Arab Emirates has backed Daglo. Eritrea has reportedly supported al-Burhan's army by providing several military training camps, which the Eritrean government has neither denied nor confirmed (archived here). Last month, al-Burhan visited Asmara and hailed Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki's support for his country (archived here). Amidst these developments, the RSF carried out a rare drone attack on Sudan's eastern city of Kassala, near the Eritrean border, on May 3, 2025 (archived here). Three days later, AFP reported that RSF was accused of drone strikes on the airport, fuel depots and a power substation in the city of Port Sudan (archived here). Meanwhile, Ethiopia's pursuit of access to the Red Sea has also led to regional tensions with Eritrea and Somalia. While Ethiopia and Somalia have fully restored their diplomatic ties following a peace agreement earlier this year, Ethiopia's rivalry with Eritrea continues (archived here). However, contrary to the posts shared on Ethiopian social media, the RSF has not announced that it attacked Eritrean navy vessels, nor do the accompanying photos support this claim. There have been no announcements from RSF claiming any attack against Eritrean navy vessels. AFP Fact Check reviewed RSF's official website and established that no mention was made of any such attack (archived here). Moreover, we found no credible reports about Eritrean navy vessels being hit in any RSF drone attacks. AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and found the original photos used in the posts. The search results for the first image established that the original photo was captured by Reuters photographer Khalid Abdelaziz on May 6, 2025, when Port Sudan was hit by drones. The caption reads: 'A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from a fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025.' The search results for the second photo revealed it was originally captured by Anadolu, a Turkish news agency, on the same date (archived here). Its caption reads: 'Smoke rises after explosions at South Port of the city of Port Sudan, Sudan, on May 06, 2025. According to local sources, a series of loud explosions were heard in the area, followed by fires breaking out at the port.' Reporting by AFP and other media describe fuel depots being hit but make no mention of any navy vessels being struck. The third image shows a map of armed groups in the Sudan civil war and their alliances with foreign forces, which was published in an article by the BBC (archived here). Despite the claims in the post, none of the images depict Eritrean navy vessels being struck.
AFP
16-05-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Posts falsely claim Sudanese paramilitary announced attack on Eritrean navy
A Facebook post, published in Amharic on May 11, 2025, contains a headline that reads: 'Breaking news: Eritrean navy has been attacked by drones.' 'Lt General Hemedti's news outlet, RSF, reported earlier today that Shabia navy forces and the remnants of al-Burhan's forces were buried deep in the Red Sea,' the post says. 'Shabia' refers to the Eritrean government. Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commonly referred to as Hemedti, is the leader of Sudan's RSF paramilitary. Since 2023, the RSF has been fighting against the country's armed forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The two military men were once allies who ousted long-serving president Omar al-Bashir in 2019 before becoming rivals in the ongoing civil war. Image Screenshot of the false post, taken on May 12, 2025 The post continues: 'The report, accompanied by photos and published yesterday, said that the next targets will be Asmara and the port of Massawa.' Massawa is an Eritrean port on the Red Sea. 'The Shabia anti-piracy warships were deployed to the coastal areas to defend al-Burhan, while Lieutenant General Hemedti's RSF attacked Port Sudan with modern drones for three days in a row,' the post adds. Eritrea has a small navy force with high-speed boats that patrol the Red Sea (archived here). The post is accompanied by three images: the first two show plumes of dark smoke in a port setting, while the third shows a map of eastern and northern Africa. AFP Fact Check found that the claim is being shared in a coordinated manner on Ethiopian Facebook accounts. An overview of these accounts shows that most of them publish pro-Ethiopian government content and include the words 'breaking news', 'update', or 'media' in their names. Image Screenshots of several posts shared in a coordinated manner, taken on May 12, 2025 These include posts shared here and here . Regional rivalries Since the civil war began in April 2023, fighting between Sudan's regular army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 13 million (archived here). It is feared that the war could further destabilise the conflict-ridden Horn of Africa by involving foreign armed groups and regional powers. Egypt has backed al-Burhan, while the United Arab Emirates has backed Daglo. Eritrea has reportedly supported al-Burhan's army by providing several military training camps, which the Eritrean government has neither denied nor confirmed (archived here). Last month, al-Burhan visited Asmara and hailed Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki's support for his country (archived here). Amidst these developments, the RSF carried out a rare drone attack on Sudan's eastern city of Kassala, near the Eritrean border, on May 3, 2025 (archived here). Three days later, AFP reported that RSF was accused of drone strikes on the airport, fuel depots and a power substation in the city of Port Sudan (archived here). Meanwhile, Ethiopia's pursuit of access to the Red Sea has also led to regional tensions with Eritrea and Somalia. While Ethiopia and Somalia have fully restored their diplomatic ties following a peace agreement earlier this year, Ethiopia's rivalry with Eritrea continues (archived here). However, contrary to the posts shared on Ethiopian social media, the RSF has not announced that it attacked Eritrean navy vessels, nor do the accompanying photos support this claim. No evidence There have been no announcements from RSF claiming any attack against Eritrean navy vessels. AFP Fact Check reviewed RSF's official website and established that no mention was made of any such attack (archived here). Image Screenshot of a page from RSF's official website, taken on May 14, 2025 Moreover, we found no credible reports about Eritrean navy vessels being hit in any RSF drone attacks. AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and found the original photos used in the posts. The search results for the first image established that the original photo was captured by Reuters photographer Khalid Abdelaziz on May 6, 2025, when Port Sudan was hit by drones. The caption reads: 'A view shows a large plume of smoke and fire rising from a fuel depot in Port Sudan, Sudan, May 6, 2025.' Image Screenshot of the original photo on Reuters' website, taken on May 12, 2025 The search results for the second photo revealed it was originally captured by Anadolu, a Turkish news agency, on the same date (archived here). Its caption reads: 'Smoke rises after explosions at South Port of the city of Port Sudan, Sudan, on May 06, 2025. According to local sources, a series of loud explosions were heard in the area, followed by fires breaking out at the port.' Reporting by AFP and other media describe fuel depots being hit but make no mention of any navy vessels being struck. Image Screenshot of the photo on Anadolu website, taken on May 12, 2025 The third image shows a map of armed groups in the Sudan civil war and their alliances with foreign forces, which was published in an article by the BBC (archived here). Despite the claims in the post, none of the images depict Eritrean navy vessels being struck.
