Ethiopia’s restive Amhara region has become fertile ground for disinformation since July 2023 when fighting broke out between government troops and a rebel group called Fano. A video shared on Facebook claims to show a US-based journalist announcing that local Fano militia forces have now disbanded. However, this is false: the clip was digitally altered by splicing segments from a news bulletin detailing a September 2023 attack against Ethiopian soldiers in Amhara. Fano fighters remain locked in battle with government forces.
“Messay Mekonnen announced that extremist Fano forces have disbanded,” reads the Amharic caption on a TikTok video shared on Facebook.
Messay Mekonnen is an Ethiopian journalist based in the United States who regularly posts pro-Fano content.
Published on October 4, 2023, the post has been shared more than 450 times and viewed by more than 160,000 users.
The account sharing the altered clip routinely posts videos in support of the ruling political party in Ethiopia.
The two-minute clip shows Messay presenting the news while maps showing different parts of the Amhara region appear on the screen.
Messay appears to make several statements throughout the clip suggesting that Fano forces have disbanded.
“A spokesperson speaking from the conflict zone stated that Fano forces suffered defeats in various battles since last Sunday,” Messay purportedly says.
The Ethiopian federal government has been locked in an armed conflict with Fano, an armed militia in the Amhara region, since July 2023 (archived here).
During the Tigray war, which lasted from 2020 to 2022, Fano allied itself with Ethiopian federal forces. But the group took up arms against the government when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed decided to disband regional security forces, including local militia, in April 2023.
However, the claim that the video shows Messay announcing the dissolution of Fano forces is false.
Altered video
In the first fifteen seconds of the clip, there is a noticeable skip in the audio and video.
AFP Fact Check used the video verification tool InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse image searches on keyframes from the footage.
A YouTube channel, Anchor Ethiopia, published all 31 minutes of the original video on September 27, 2023 (archived here).
Owned by Messay, Anchor Ethiopia regularly broadcasts news reports and interviews about the ongoing armed conflict between the Ethiopian federal government and Fano rebel forces.
AFP Fact Check verified several elements to confirm this is the same footage seen in the misleading Facebook clip. In both videos, Messay’s clothing is the same, as is the Washington, D.C. backdrop.
In the original video, Messay, speaking Amharic, begins his report by saying, “Fano forces have launched large-scale attacks against the regime’s military in western and southern Gondar after accomplishing its mission in Gondar city” (archived here).
In September 2023, Fano militants attacked government soldiers in Gondar, the most populous city in the Amhara region. The federal army said they were able to repel the assault (archived here).
By comparing the original footage with the altered video, AFP Fact Check found several instances in which the audio was manipulated to give the impression that Fano suffered a devastating defeat.
“A spokesperson located in the conflict zone said that Abiy Ahmed’s invading forces that attacked the western Gojjam zone, Karit, for the third time have suffered defeats in various battles,” Messay says from 6’47” to 6’58” in the original clip.
This line was edited in the altered version; the words “Abiy Ahmed’s invading forces” were replaced with Messay saying “Fano forces”, the latter having been taken from 20 seconds into the original audio.
At about 0’24” in the altered video, there is another noticeable skip in the audio.
In an interview with an alleged Fano commander, the combatant appears to say that “in the fighting held in Gondar, a Fano battalion was involved, and all were either killed and captured while the remnants disbanded”.
However, at about 1’36’’ in the original video, the same purported commander says that “during yesterday’s fighting in Gondar, government troops from the 34th and 68th brigades were fully destroyed, including their bases”.
His comment was modified to replace “government troops from the 34th and 68th brigades” with “Fano battalion”; audio is also taken from the original video when the alleged commander says that “one Fano battalion along with local people were involved in fighting in the Maksegenit area”.
The alleged commander’s comments were further altered by adding “either killed or captured and the remnants were disbanded” to create the impression that Messay announced a major defeat and the dissolution of Fano forces.
AFP Fact Check previously debunked similar altered videos related to the Ethiopian conflict here and here.
Source: yahoo.com