Major Dawit Weldegiorgis, spokesperson of the recently launched armed group Amhara Popular Front (APF), met with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
Major Dawit, who once served as deputy foreign minister and governor of Eritrea under the Derg regime, was one of the most ardent supporters of Abiy Ahmed among Amhara diaspora groups during the prime minister’s early days in office.
He has since become a bitter foe. Last month, he was announced as the spokesperson of APF, an armed group founded by Eskindir Nega with the goal of “liberating” the Amhara people. The APF is engaged in armed conflict against the federal government in several parts of the Amhara region.
In a statement shared on Twitter, Major Dawit said that he explained “Oromumma is an anti-Semitic philosophy” to the Israeli foreign Minster. However, it is not clear what he means by this, as Oromumma simply means “Oromoness” in Oromo, the language of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, from which the Prime Minister comes.
The Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa has not commented on the matter.