Anger erupted in Ethiopia yesterday after an audio recording attributed to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in which he said that he “would rather die than handover power peacefully.”
In the Amharic-language audio, the Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed warned members of the ruling Prosperity Party and other parties who want to seize power through the elections scheduled for June 21.
Ahmed said, “We need to take utmost caution against any small mistake … No one should assume power during the next ten years. I would rather die, and I will not give up on power peacefully.”
“We will take many measures. It is time to use the force that we have prepared. So, there will be massive bloodshed.”
In the recording leaked by the Washington-based African site “Kello Media”, the Ethiopian PM emphasised, “We have a serious responsibility, but compared to what we have achieved, it is not difficult to do.”
In a statement published on its official Twitter page, the Ethiopian prime minister’s office denied the credibility of the recording saying it is a “fake audio compilation, which has been put together by drawing on different unrelated remarks made by the Prime Minister.”
Last Friday, the Executive Committee of the ruling Prosperity Party in Ethiopia concluded its two-day meeting to discuss the Nile dam and the Ethiopian elections.
At the end of its meeting, it issued a statement confirming that “the two most important issues the ruling Prosperity Party is working on at this stage, are the process of the second filling of the dam and the Ethiopian elections.””
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