“I’m Going to Exterminate Amhara”: Abiy Ahmed’s Statement to Former Minister of Peace Taye Dendea

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June 23rd, 2025

In an interview with Horn Conversation media prior to his arrest on June 2, 2025, Ethiopia’s former State Minister of Peace, Taye Dendea, revealed that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed explicitly stated: “I’m going to exterminate Amhara.” The statement was reportedly made during a private conversation with Taye in 2022. The former minister, stunned by the remarks, said that he clarified that his own advocacy had been solely for justice and freedom for the Oromo people, not the harm of any other ethnic group. Taye said Abiy appeared surprised by his rejection of the statement.

The English translation of that segment of the interview is provided below.

Interview Transcript:

He (Abiy Ahmed) told Workinesh that he has killed the Ministry of Peace department

He said, "these Amharas (Amhara PP officials) are demanding I give them the Ministry of Peace, so I'm going to kill it and give it to them."

"I have taken out all the relevant people within the Ministry of Peace and left it standing. Now as you can see, I have given it to Binalf (Amhara PP official)," he said.

He said, "I've given it to them (Amhara PP) since they asked for it and since I've made the Ministry of Peace an irrelevant organization you should not talk about that organization from this point forward."

2 billion birr has been allocated to this organization that he says he made irrelevant. One point something billion to be exact but 2 billion with external funding.

Ok, so what did he do after that? On the 28th, he appointed me as the Ministry of Peace. He had told me that the Ministry of Peace is zero (irrelevant), and then he appoints me as the Data Minister at the Ministry of Peace.

This had a meaning to me, I was thinking if I should accept it or decline. Then I asked myself what he (Abiy Ahmed) wanted. He wanted me to get upset and step down.

So i decided that I would not step away, I would take the position. But while there, I would continue to be a voice for my constituents.

Then came the killing of the Karrayyu Abba Gadaas. They killed them themselves but claimed that OLF Shene did it.

I had evidence on hand, and based on that evidence I exposed that the killing was done by the government.

This created a commotion, and because of this commotion we (Abiy and I) met. He called me. I had been trying to see him for a long time but could not, but when I exposed this he called me.

Then he brought up the points I told you earlier. Then I understood him further. I realized that he has no sympathy for the suffering of the people.

I used to believe that the suffering of the people in the region (Oromia) was happening without his knowledge. Then I realized everything that takes place in that region was done with his knowledge.

That he is the one who does not want peace in the region. That he is the one who wants the corruption and injustice to flourish in the region.

I still don't understand the secret behind it. I don't know what the people have done to him. Why he inflicts this much cruelty on the people. I don't understand.

But now I understand that he is inflicting suffering on the people through a policy he has drafted and implemented.

There is no crime that has been committed in the Oromia Region that he is not aware of. That is what I understand now.

Then we continued, and in March 2022 the Prosperity Party had an official general assembly as the party had formed through a merger before that.

Then came July 2022. They turned off the mic on me during Cheffe (Oromia Region assembly). So I took my speech and what I wanted to say and published it on Facebook.

Then I went on several medias and exposed the mafia like structure in the government. And that also created a commotion.

He (Abiy Ahmed) was ill at that time and had gone to Dubai for treatment. When he came back, I was the first person he saw before anyone.

He brought up some points. Some might not be right to mention, but there were some critical ones.

One of these things that he said to me was, "why are you talking on the phone with the enemy?"

Chuchu Alebachew was an Amhara Prosperity official. He was a member of the Communications Bureau that was on the same level as myself and we knew each other.

When I was speaking out and writing about the problems he had called me and told me that this was not just an issue in Oromia Region, he told me it was the same with them (Amhara Region). That the country was being run by Mafias.

We discussed how what we wrote on paper is one thing and what is being implemented is another. That mafias have taken over the country and that instead of going towards prosperity we are going towards impoverishment.

So this phone conversation was intercepted. Either his phone or my phone was bugged. So Abiy had heard the whole conversation.

He (Abiy) said, "why are you calling Chuchu Alebachew, our enemy?"

Then I asked, "what does this mean? Who is our enemy? Chuchu was a member of the Prosperity Party, and Prosperity Party not only embraces its own but it embraces even opposition parties."

"Medemer (synergy) says that there is no enemy. Where is this coming from? How are you saying this to us?", I asked.

I said to him, "even if we disagreed with these people politically, aren't they our relatives."

There are some things not appropriate for media but I asked him why.

Secondly, he said that he was going to eliminate a group by saying their name. Because of some political issue.

Since we don't know what could happen, I'll tell you what he said so it doesn't stay a secret. He said to me, "I'm going to exterminate Amhara."

I said, "why?"

Journalist: did he explicitly say to you that he wants to exterminate Amhara?

Yes, he said, "I am destroying them."

Then I said to him, "what I've been asking is for the Oromo people to get freedom and justice, and come out of their problem. I never advocated for Amhara to be exterminated. That is not what I want."

I told him this was not my question or demand.

He was shocked when I said that to him.