Urgent Request: Suspension and Editorial Review of Upcoming BBC Amharic Interview with Ambassador Bacha Debele!
Dear BBC News Editorial Team,
I am writing to urgently request an immediate editorial review and suspension of the upcoming BBC Amharic interview with the Ethiopian Ambassador to Kenya, Bacha Debele.
During the recording, Ambassador Debele explicitly stated, "If the Amhara forces and others come to Addis Ababa, we will kill each other and no one will survive."
This explicit threat of mass violence amounts to incitement to genocide. Broadcasting these statements risks inciting violent attacks on the ground and draws dangerous parallels to the role media outlets like Rwanda’s RTLM played during historical atrocities. If transmitted, the BBC risks facilitating targeted violence and sharing legal and ethical accountability for any subsequent violence triggered by these statements. I strongly urge your editorial board to withhold this interview from broadcast, conduct a formal content review, and take immediate appropriate action.
@BBCAfrica@BBCWorld@BBCAmharicNew@martinplaut
The Amhara Fano National Movement (AFNM) has claimed its fighters inflicted more than 100 casualties on Ethiopian government forces during operations in the Amhara region over the past two days, reporting battlefield gains in East Gojjam and Central Gondar.
In a statement released on Thursday, AFNM political leader Asres Mare Damtie said fighters from the movement’s Tewodros Command, 201 Corps, carried out a pre-dawn assault at around 5:00 a.m. on government positions in the Enese district of East Gojjam. The operation targeted militia and police units stationed near the towns of Chemo and Buza, with the AFNM claiming 22 militia and police personnel were killed and 20 others wounded, several of them critically.
The movement published what it said were the names of those killed and injured and shared images purportedly showing firearms and other military equipment seized during the operation. The group did not disclose whether any of its own fighters were killed or wounded in the attack.
The announcement follows a Wednesday statement from Fano-affiliated sources claiming that 61 government security personnel, including anti-riot police, were killed in a separate operation elsewhere in the region. Additionally, the media outlet Ethio News, which frequently covers areas where Fano operates, reported that approximately 40 Ethiopian government troops were killed during clashes in the Tikil Dengia area of the Armachiho district in Central Gondar.