A former state minister in Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has leveled explosive allegations in a newly released interview, accusing the premier of deliberately instigating the Tigray war and harboring a plan to annihilate the Amhara people.
Taye Dendea, a former official in the Oromia regional government and Ethiopia’s federal Ministry of Peace, made the claims in an interview with Horn Convention Media. The interview was recorded before his arrest on June 2, 2025, and released publicly after his detention.
In the interview, Dendea made a direct and incendiary claim implicating the prime minister in a genocidal plot.
“During our conversation, Abiy Ahmed said to me, ‘I’m going to destroy Amhara. I’ve started it,’” Dendea stated in the interview.
Dendea, a long-serving Oromo politician and one-time member of Abiy’s Prosperity Party, has become an outspoken critic of the administration he once served. His comments represent one of the most serious accusations to emerge from a former insider against the Prime Minister.
Ethiopia: Widespread Conspiracy Alleged
Detailing a meeting in Ethiopia’s Adama on July 29, 2021, Dendea recounted an address given by Abiy, who was dressed in a military uniform. Dendea alleges the Prime Minister made several shocking admissions regarding the war in the Tigray region.
“He told us some things,” Dendea said. “First: ‘Now TPLF is coming to the Amhara region. We have released them to destroy the region so that you don’t think it is their power… We are the ones who deliberately created the Tigray war. We are the ones who deliberately made TPLF carry out that attack.’”
Dendea also claimed Ethiopia’s Abiy openly acknowledged and condoned graft among officials. “I know all of you steal and are corrupt. I appreciate that, but reduce the speed and intensity and steal,” Dendea quoted Abiy as saying.
Further, Dendea implicated the government in the Dec. 1, 2021, killing of Keryu Abagadas, traditional Oromo leaders, in the East Shewa Zone of Oromia. After the government blamed the Oromo Liberation Front (ONLF) for the killings, Dendea said he contested the official narrative. “I said, ‘No, it’s a lie. According to the evidence, they were killed by Abiy Ahmed,’” he recalled. Dendea claims Abiy subsequently summoned him to his office and ordered him to “Keep silent.”
At another central committee meeting for the Oromia region in 2023, Dendea alleges Abiy gave officials a chilling directive: “When you kill someone, silence your voice and kill them. Don’t let the media hear.”
Pattern of Dissent and Arrest
Dendea’s public break with Abiy escalated on Dec. 11, 2023, when he published a post on his Facebook page. “Honorable Prime Minister Abiy, I believed in and followed your ideas of integration,” he wrote. “But now I understand that you are a barbarian who not only does not live up to what you said, but also plays with human blood.”
He was detained the following day, on Dec. 12, 2023, and later released on Dec. 5, 2024.
Known for his political activism, Dendea spent nine years in prison under Ethiopia’s former EPRDF government. His law studies, which began in 2001, took 16 years to complete due to his repeated arrests. After his initial release and the completion of his education, he became an active political figure, eventually serving in state minister roles before his recent turn to open criticism of Abiy’s leadership.
