Facebook Removed a Post From Ethiopia’s PM for Inciting Violence

Facebook has deleted a post from Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that called on his supporters to “bury” his opponents. 

In Sunday’s post, Abiy, a former Nobel Peace Prize winner, encouraged Ethiopians to use “every weapon and power” to “prevent, reverse and bury the terrorist TPLF [Tigray People's Liberation Front].” He also wrote that “the obligation to die for Ethiopia belongs to all of us.”

Facebook, which recently changed its company name to Meta, said the post was removed “for violating our policies against inciting and supporting violence.”

As the country approaches the one-year anniversary of the start of a civil war that has displaced millions of people and claimed thousands of lives, the Ethiopian government has declared a state of emergency as Abiy continues to use his official Facebook page to promise retribution against his political enemies. Meanwhile, a new report from the United Nations and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission released this week has detailed multiple incidences of “extreme brutality” over the past year that they say are “linked to the Ethiopian and Eritrean defence forces.”