Ethiopian leader’s speech did not include ‘stern warning’ to Somalia and Egypt

“We must continue to learn, read and prepare. However, we should not boast. We will win when we engage in a war, but we will not boast until we engage,” Abiy says in the 11-second clip.

The post also includes a photo of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Diplomatic row 

Earlier this year, Ethiopia signed an agreement with Somaliland – a breakaway region of Somalia – that allows Addis Ababa to use Somaliland’s port in Berbera (archived here).

The deal led to a major diplomatic row between Ethiopia and Somalia, with the latter’s president recently accusing Ethiopia of violating its sovereignty (archiving here).

Two rounds of talks mediated by Turkey ended without any significant results. A third round of talks has been scheduled for September 17, 2024.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia has been involved in a long-standing dispute with Egypt over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a mega hydropower dam on the Nile (archived here).

Egypt has expressed fears that the massive dam could greatly reduce the flow of the Nile, while Ethiopia sees the dam as important to its development. Several talks between the two countries have ended without agreement.

Amid this dispute, Egypt sent military equipment to Somalia in late August 2024, escalating tensions between Ethiopia on one side and Egypt and Somalia on the other (archived here).

However, the claim that the clip shows Abiy issuing a warning to Egypt and Somalia is misleading.

Old video

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

The results led to the original video, a much longer version, published on the official Facebook page of state-affiliated broadcaster Oromia Broadcasting Network (OBN) on December 13, 2020 (archived here).

The 23-minute-long video is captioned in Afaan Oromoo and translates to: “Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed discussed with army leaders in Mekelle.”

Mekelle is the capital of the Tigray region, where the Ethiopian army fought against the insurgent Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) during a two-year war from November 2020 to November 2022.

The army captured Mekelle in late November 2020 and Abiy went to the city the next month to meet army leaders (archived here).

In the video, Abiy wears an Ethiopian army uniform and talks about various topics such as discipline and military tactics.

The…