Amid growing military tensions between Ethiopia and its neighbour Eritrea, a widely shared video claims that former Ethiopian army general Samora Yunus supported occupying Eritrea’s Assab port in the event of a new war. However, this is incorrect: old footage of Samora was paired with a voiceover that falsely represented the original interview.
The headline of the Amharic post shared on Facebook on November 2, 2025, reads: “I do not want the war to begin. If the war starts, the Ethiopian army’s operation will not be limited to occupying Assab.”
The post attributes the statement to Samora, who served as head of Ethiopia’s army from 2001 to 2018.
Assab is a port city in Eritrea, located on the western coast of the Red Sea.
The post, widely spread by Ethiopian government supporters here and here, contains a seven-minute video in which Samora is seen speaking, but his voice is not heard.
A male narrator relays Samora’s purported statements together with a text transcription of the voiceover.
“I fully agree with the prime minister’s speech in parliament about Eritrea regarding access to the Red Sea,” the narrator says. “The Assab port issue has never been forgotten by the Ethiopian people. I have been waiting for a long time. The time has now arrived.”
On October 28, 2025, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed spoke in Ethiopia’s parliament about his country’s “irreversible” quest for access to the Red Sea (archived here). Footage of the Red Sea and Abiy delivering his speech appears on...
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