Category: Analysis

In case of potential controversies regarding the peace agreement signed between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian government in South Africa at the beginning of November 2022, HaqCheck has done an analysis of the terms of the peace deal and its ongoing status.

Background

Since 1991, the TPLF had been a dominant political force in Ethiopia ruling the country with an iron fist till 2018. Ethiopia had witnessed a widespread popular protest against the ruling party, EPRDF. The then prime Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn was forced to resign amid the massive unrest.

The public uprising culminated when the TPLF-dominated EPRDF elected a new party chairman and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

The new Prime Minister soon introduced drastic reforms within the ruling party including changing its program and organizational structures. The coalition EPRDF party was then dismantled and transformed into a more unified and liberal Prosperity Party.

The relationship between the TPLF and the other regional parties particularly with the then Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) and the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM) began to sour.

Contention between the TPLF and the federal government reigned between 2018 and 2020.

In June 2020 the Ethiopian House of Federation approved the decision of the electoral board and the lower house to postpone the sixth national election due to the coronavirus.

The TPLF denounced the postponement of the election by the parliament and proceed with holding a regional election in September 2020. It was reported that the TPLF won the regional election 100 percent.

Soon after, the TPLF announced that the federal government was not elected and was illegitimate.

In October 2020, the Ethiopian House of Federation ruled that federal authorities should cut off contact with the Tigray regional legislative and executive bodies.

The federal government cut a subsidy budget to the regional state of Tigray and order government offices to cut any ties with the TPLF-led regional authority.

Armed Conflict

The tension culminated in a war that broke out on the evening of November 3, 2020.

The TPLF said that it had conducted a preemptive strike against the ENDF units based in Tigray.

The Ethiopian army along with the Eritrean counterpart and other regional forces quashed the TPLF forces and took control of the regional capital Mekelle within three weeks.

However, the insurgency continued in the regional state. The Ethiopian government with a request from the then Tigray Interim administration declared a humanitarian ceasefire and pulled its armed forces from Mekelle and many areas of the region.

After the TPLF forces controlled Mekelle in June 2021, they marched toward the Amhara and Afar regional states and seized many towns such as Woldia, Kombolcha, Dessie, and Debre Tabor.

Yet, the overstretched TPLF armed forces were driven out of the Afar and Amhara regions after a coordinated offensive by the Ethiopian government and its allied forces.

Cessation of Hostilities

Thereafter, the Ethiopian government declared a cessation of hostilities with the TPLF on Mar 24, 2022. The unilaterally declared truce was immediately adopted by the TPLF.

Informal talks to settle the armed conflict were initiated by the African Union. The organization assigned former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to lead and facilitate talks between the belligerents.

The Ethiopian government established a negotiating team to look for a peaceful settlement to the war. 

In August 2022, the TPLF announced preconditions such as the restoration of basic public services in the regional state to kickstart negotiation.

The federal government ignored TPLF preconditions and said that it was ready to start negotiation with no preconditions.

Resumption of Conflict

The TPLF announced on Aug 16, 2022, that the armed forces of the federal government attacked its forces with artillery and tanks violating the cessation of hostilities.

The federal government and the TPLF forces blamed each other for launching attacks violating the bilaterally-embraced truce.

The TPLF forces advanced southward and seized the town of Kobo. The federal government and allied forces soon rapidly marched in the TPLF-controlled areas in the northwestern parts of Tigray.

Major towns in the Tigray regional state including Shire, Aksum, Adwa, Korem, and Alamata took control by the Ethiopian government.

Pretoria Peace Agreement

On Nov 2, 2022, the federal government and the TPLF signed a peace agreement in South Africa, Pretoria. The peace deal dubbed ‘Agreement for lasting peace through a permanent cessation of hostilities between the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)’ was signed under the auspices of the African Union.

What is the Pretoria Peace Agreement about?

According to the deal, the TPLF agreed to surrender its weapons within a month and disarm, demobilize and reintegrate its armed combatants into the Ethiopian defense force.

The federal government agreed to list the terrorist designation of the TPLF and restore essential services.

The parties to the deal agreed to establish an interim government within a week after the listing of the terrorist designation of the TPLF.

The Nairobi Declaration

On Nov 12, 2022, the senior commanders of the Ethiopian armed forces and the TPLF armed combatants met in  Nairobi, Kenya, and crafted a modality on the further implementation of the Pretoria agreement.

Article two of the Nairobi declaration stated that the parties agreed that disarmament of heavy weapons should be done concurrently with the withdrawal of foreign and non-ENDF forces from the region.

The deal and the later declaration also asserted that a monitoring and verification committee should be established by the parties and shall be assisted by an expert team appointed by the African Union.

The current status of the implementation of the agreement

Reports indicate that humanitarian aid delivery and essential services such as transportation, telephone, and Internet connection have commenced in the regional state.

On Dec 3, 2022, the commander-in-chief of the TPLF armed forces said that 65% of the TPLF combatants were already withdrawn from the frontlines.

The Eritrean soldiers reportedly withdrew from the town of Aksum and Shire at the end of last month.

Controversies regarding a border dispute

The Tigray and Amhara regional states have been in a border dispute.

Article 10 of the Pretoria deal states that the parties agreed to solve the land dispute in accordance with the Ethiopian constitution.

The current Ethiopian constitution, article 39, sub-article 3, says that every nation, nationality, and people in Ethiopia has the right to self-government which includes the right to establish institutions of government. Article 47 of the constitution also asserts groups can establish their state.

The request to form a self-government is accepted when the demand is approved by a two-thirds majority of the members of the legislative council of the administration (kebele, woreda, zone, region) in question.

For instance, in July 2018, the Sidama Zone Council decided to establish a Sidama regional state and the request was sent to the Southern Nations, Nationality, and Peoples Regional Council. The regional council in return voted in favor of the decision and allowed the zone to pursue statehood. The Ethiopian National Electoral Board arranged a referendum.

But this constitutional arrangement is applied when an administration wants to separate from a bigger administration and establish higher self-government.

The constitution has no explicit statement regarding the settlement of the border dispute between regional states.

The Ethiopian social media landscape during the third week of December was dominated by three main issues and related claims.

The first issue was related to ongoing conflict and violence in the Oromia regional state of Ethiopia. Social media platforms, particularly Telegram was characterized by disturbing graphic videos and images.

Videos and images showing decapitated human heads, a man guillotining a person’s head, etc were shared across social media platforms.

There were controversial claims regarding these horrific videos and images. HaqCheck saw claims that the people shown in the videos beheading were Fano militias.

Whereas, others shared videos that show many corpses and claimed that the dead bodies belong to armed fighters of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) who were killed in recent engagements.

Yet, we couldn’t verify whether the claims were true or false.

The other two issues that flamed information controversy on social media were Ethiopia’s status in relation to the recently announced Chinese tariff-free privilege for African products and regarding what Ethiopia did and didn’t achieve during the 2022 US-Africa Leaders Summit.

HaqCheck came across controversial claims regarding the issues. However, HaqCheck hasn’t reached a conclusion yet.

Moroccans displayed the ONLF flag at the Qatar World Cup

HaqCheck observed a social media post sharing an image that the picture shows the Moroccan national team displaying the flag of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and rejoicing after a match.

The Moroccan national football team has reached the Qatar FIFA World Cup semi-final as the first African Arab country. After their victory against Spain, the Moroccan squad raised the Palestinian flag.

The image presented by the Facebook post to support the claim that Morrocans raised the ONLF flag in the Qatar World Cup was taken from another publication. Also, the image was altered to make the flag seem like the claimed one.

The original image shows the Moroccan team raising the Palestinian flag after a match in the 2022 FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar.

Thus, HaqCheck confirmed that the image doesn’t support the claim and rated the image Altered.

Recommendations

We recommend social media users be cautious of potentially misleading and controversial information. They should look for additional information before they accept or share the claim.

HaqCheck urges public offices and other agencies to offer timely updates about ongoing issues. The lack of sufficing information has been observed to be one of the main factors behind disinformation dissemination.

Government and other organizations are recommended to ensure the right of citizens and the media to access information.

All the false claims HaqCheck debunked during the second week of December this year were related to conflict and resultant violence.

The armed conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) whom the government called Shene has been raging.

Recurrent conflicts and resultant violence for the past few years now have been reported. Many civilians, including Oromos and Amharas, were killed by government forces and non-state armed entities.

Amid the armed conflict, aerial and ground attacks were undergoing targeting civilians in the process or intentionally.

Conflict broke out recently in the Oromia regional state, mainly in the Wollega zones. Violence and civilian killings came out, particularly on social media.

We observed two fronts circulating social media posts that dominated the social media landscape. The one front seemed to claim that the government along with Amhara regional forces targeted Oromo civilians and the victims of the latest conflict were ethnic Oromos.

The other front alleged that armed forces in Oromia were targeting and mass killing ethnic Amharas who live in Wollega of the Oromia region.

Viral claims and rumors of massacres slaughters, violence, mass displacement, and immolation were making rounds across the Ethiopian social media landscape.

Many images allegedly proving these claims were greatly disseminated on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

The Ethiopian social media landscape was overwhelmed by false and controversial claims that are related to an ongoing conflict in the Oromia regional state of Ethiopia. These claims were mostly supported by images and videos. HaqCheck came across many image-backed claims. While we figured out that some of them were old and false, we could not confirm many images whether were authentic or not.

Nevertheless, below is a summary of the false claims debunked by HaqCheck throughout the second week of the last month of 2022.

A false picture claimed to show people killed in the latest conflict in Oromia

An image was posted on Facebook and Twitter supporting a claim that it shows dead bodies of recently killed people in Wollega, Oromia. The Facebook post claimed that the victims were ethnic Amharas who live in Wollega. In contrast, the Twitter post alleged that the victims were Oromo farmers killed by Amhara armed forces in Wollega.

But, HaqCheck found out that the image doesn’t show ethnic Amhara or Oromos recently killed in Wollega.

The image used to back the opposing claims was old and taken from a social media post made on Sep 20, 2022. It was published along with a short article that alleges ethnic Amharas were being killed in Wollega.

A video allegedly showing Amhara civilians recently killed in Oromia

A viral video emerged on Facebook on Dec 4, 2022, allegedly showing ethnic Amharas who were killed in Wollega, Oromia. The video shows people transporting dead bodies with stretchers.

However, HaqCheck confirmed that the video was previously published on Mar 5, 2021, on the Facebook page of the Amhara Prosperity Party (APP). The video was shared with a short Amharic caption that ethnic Amharas were massacred by the TPLF in the Mai Kadra town.

A false image of an alleged airstrike in Wollega

A Facebook page with over 120 thousand followers posted an image on Dec 5, 2022, claiming that an aerial attack by the Ethiopian government in the town of Begi, Oromia killed many civilians. Additionally, it claimed that Oromia Special Police Force members were also attacked in the air strike.

Nonetheless, the image doesn’t support the claim civilians were killed during a recent air attack in the town of Begi.

The image was taken from an article published on a website in November 2015. Therefore, HaqCheck concluded that the image doesn’t prove the claim and rated the post as False.

A person being immolated in a recent conflict in Ethiopia

An image allegedly showing a person being immolated in a recent conflict in Ethiopia was shared on Facebook on Dec 5, 2022.

However, HaqCheck inspected the claim and confirmed that the picture doesn’t show people burning a person during a recent conflict in Ethiopia.

The image was first published on Twitter on Oct 6, 2014, with an English caption, “Mob Justice is just bad. Where is the rule of law?”.

Recommendations

HaqCheck recommends social media users be skeptical about misleading and controversial information they encounter. They should look for original source of the claim. They should quest for additional information such as fact-checks for potential false claims.

We urge government bodies and other agencies to offer timely updates regarding ongoing matters. The lack of sufficing information always prompts information disorder. The public and the media sector should be provided with sufficient information concerning public affairs.

We recommend the government and other organizations guarantee the right to open and secure access to information.

HaqCheck investigated and debunked three viral social media claims during the first week of the month. Below are the false claims HaqCheck cross-checked throughout the week.

An alleged video of Debretsion Gebremichael’s recent interview

HaqCheck observed a viral video circulating across social media platforms, mainly Facebook and Twitter, with a claim that the video was of a recent interview with TPLF chairman, Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD) about the peace agreement and he made good remarks on the deal and PM Abiy Ahmed (PhD).

The claim came out after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian government signed a peace agreement last month to end the two-year war that erupted in November 2020.

The TPLF chairman, Debretsion Gebremichael is heard in the clip saying, “our Prime Minister [Abiy Ahmed] opened a new chapter [of peace]”.

But, the video clip was not new. The clip was taken from an old interview made with the TPLF chairman in 2018 regarding the peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea that ended the two-decade no-peace-no-war situation.

The original video was published on YouTube on Jul 15, 2018. HaqCheck confirmed that the recent video was extracted from the old one and was edited to make it look like a recent interview.

A 25-meter-tall human skeleton discovered in Gojjam

Another false claim HaqCheck looked into was an image-backed claim that a 25-meter-tall human skeleton was recently discovered in a small village in the West Gojjam zone of the Amhara regional state.

Two Facebook posts with the same claim and the same image emerged and were shared multiple times.

We inquired into the claim and the image presented to support the claim. However, HaqCheck confirmed that the picture doesn’t show a 25-meter tall giant human skeleton recently found in Gojjam, Amhara region.

The image was taken from an old publication made in September 2013 and it shows a giant prehistoric human skeleton excavated in the Sahara Desert in Niger. It was also used in a documentary film named Skeletons Of The Sahara, produced by National Geographic Television.

Amhara regional government presented Emperor Haile Selassie’s photograph as a gift to President Isaias

An image showing Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki receiving a gift from Amhara regional state government delegates was posted on Facebook on Nov 30, 2022.

The gift being presented to the President was a photograph of Emperor Haile Selassie I. The post used the picture to criticize the supporters of the Eritrean ruling party saying “you are supporting this [President Isaias]” implicitly stating that the President was working with Eritrea’s historical enemies.

It is true that delegates of the Amhara regional state government, led by Worksemu Mamo, speaker of the regional State Council traveled to Eritrea for a five-day visit in September 2018. The delegation presented a gift to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.

However, HaqCheck confirmed that the image shared by the Facebook account was altered. 

The original picture shows that the delegation presented to the President an image that contains the Geez alphabet, the Castles of Gondar,  the Obelisk of Axum, and the rock-hewn Church of Lalibela.

Thus, the post was rated False.

Recommendations

As always, HaqCheck recommends social media users be cautious about misleading and controversial claims. They should look for additional information such as fact-checks for potential false claims.

Disinformation and information disorder, in general, become intensified when sufficient information about ongoing issues is unavailable. We urge government offices and other entities to provide timely updates to the public.

We recommend the government to guarantee the right of citizens and the media to an open and secure access to information.

The settlement of the war lowered the disinformation dissemination rate

The phenomenal event that changed the course of the disinformation trend that had been in place for the last two years was the settlement of the war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian government at the beginning of the month.

The parties signed an ‘Agreement for lasting peace through a permanent cessation of hostilities between the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)’ in South Africa on Nov 2, 2022.

Before the signing of the peace agreement to resolve the two years war, the overwhelming majority of the false social media claims were related to the war. Seemingly organized groups had been orchestrating social media campaigns circulating false information.

The belligerents and affiliated entities had manufactured disinforming and toxic propaganda outputs. These propaganda outputs prompted false social media posts.

The disinformation trend was significantly decreasing immediately after the peace pact was stroke in Pretoria. 

Later on, the issue of false information transitioned from the war in the northern parts of the country to other different issues such as armed conflict and violence in Oromia.

New issues dominated the course of the disinformation trend

Few false claims related to the war in Tigray appeared, despite the main topics of false information being other that the armed conflict.

Since a peaceful settlement was reached to the armed conflict between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government other issues or topics of information disorder emerged.

HaqCheck observed three main topics of information disorder during the month. They were false claims regarding the alleged satellite town to be built in Addis Ababa, an ongoing armed conflict and violence in Wollaga, and post-war situations in the Tigray regional state.

False images of the alleged to-be-built satellite town

There were reports that the Ethiopian government was planning the construction of a new palace with one billion US dollars. During a parliamentary session on Nov 15, 2022, Prime Minister Abiy (PhD) confirmed that his government was constructing a modern satellite town that will cost billions of dollars.

False images of the design of the alleged satellite town were shared on social media platforms and virally circulated.

The images were old and taken from other places.

Armed conflict and violence in Wollega

As soon as the war in Tigray ended with the peace deal, social media posts related to conflicts and violence in Oromia started popping up.

Such social media posts were not new. HaqCheck had been debunking false claims regarding conflict and violence in the region. But the attention that had been given to the war between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government seems to shift to conflicts and attacks in Ormia, particularly Wollega.

Reports indicated that there had been armed conflict and attacks on civilians in Wollaga.

Granted this, false images were circulating on the Ethiopian social media landscape to support claims that recent government aerial and ground attacks targeted civilians in Wollega, Oromia.

Post-war situations in Tigray

HaqCheck came across a few social media claims regarding ongoing post-war situations in Tigray such as a public protest in Mekelle, TPLF hiding firearms, and TPLF combatants begun surrendering their weapons. These claims were accompanied by false images.

The peace agreement signed between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government asserts that the TPLF shall disarm and demobilize its armed combatants.

In this context, two social media posts supported by false images emerged. Four false images were shared on Facebook claiming that the TPLF was burying [hiding] weapons and ammunition.

The other debunked claim related to the issues was that a Tweet containing four images was made alleging TPLF militants in Maytsemri surrendered their weapons to local authorities and gathered in temporary camps.

However, the images presented to back the claim were old and taken from publications made two years ago.

A claim was also made on Twitter on Nov 20, 2022, sharing three false images alleging that Mekelle residents protested against [TPLF] armed forces for hindering the delivery of food aid to the city.

Change and consistency in the information disorder trend

HaqCheck figured out a change and continuity in the course of information disorder across the Ethiopian social media landscape.

The visible change we observed is that the main issue, the war between the TPLF and the Ethiopian government which was behind the disinformation trend is no longer the major topic. The issues of information disorder are now diversified.

HaqCheck spotted two continuity in the trend. One consistency was the application of false images. All the false claims HaqCheck debunked during the month of November were accompanied by images.

Besides, Facebook and Twitter continue to be the dominant pipelines of false claims. The two social media platforms, particularly the former, were the main grounds for false-image-backed information dissemination. All the false claims across-checked by HaqCheck in November were found on these platforms.

Recommendations

HaqCheck recommends social media users be skeptical of misleading and controversial information. They should look for original sources and additional details regarding potentially false claims.

Public authorities and other bodies should offer timely information about ongoing issues. Disinformation dissemination aggravates where information is limited.

Social media content creators are advised to be responsible and avoid circulating false information. They are one of the main factors for disinformation dissemination at a large scale.

Open access to information would greatly improve the availability of sufficient and accurate information reducing disinformation in the process. Governmental and non-governmental agencies should work towards the realization of the right to access information.

HaqCheck observed some false social media posts during the third week of November. Below are some of the debunked claims circulated across various social media platforms.

A design of a satellite town to be built in Addis Ababa

False images allegedly showing a design of a satellite town to be built in Addis Ababa were circulating across the Ethiopian social media landscape. On Nov 18, 2022, a Facebook post shared four images claiming that the images are of a design of the satellite town also known as Chaka Project.

However, the images don’t show the design of the so-called satellite town.

The images were old and show designs of other projects such as Entoto Natural Park, a hotel in Russia, and a smart forest city in Mexico.

Thus, the post was rated False.

Civilians killed in a drone attack in Oromia

Another claim HaqCheck debunked during the week was that the Ethiopian government conducted an aerial strike in the town of Mendi, in Wallagga, Oromia, and civilians were killed. A Twitter post shared two pictures and a cartoon image to support the claim.

However, HaqCheck cross-checked the authenticity of the pictures and confirmed that one of the images was taken from an old publication.

The first picture was taken from a Facebook post made on Jan 18, 2020. The post claimed that it shows a Uzbekistani fighter jet conducting an exercise.

But, HaqCheck could not verify whether the second picture is old or new. The picture is taken from a video clip that was recently circulating on Twitter.

Thus, the post was rated Partly False.

TPLF burying [hiding] weapons and ammunition

HaqCheck came across a viral Facebook post made on Nov 18, 2022, sharing four images to support a claim that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was burying [hiding] weapons and ammunition.

Nonetheless, the images don’t support the claim.

The first image was taken from a website and allegedly shows underground LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) tanks made by a manufacturer in China.

The second picture is of a surviving World War II tank which was dug up in May 2017.

The third image was first published by Reuters on Jul 27, 2021, and shows abandoned ammunition boxes in Tigray. The fourth picture was captured by the New York Times and it shows munitions and an upturned truck abandoned by the Ethiopian military.

Therefore, the post was rated False.

Recommendations

HaqCheck urges social media users to be conscious of potentially false and controversial social media posts and should look for additional sources for dubious claims.

We recommend the government and other relevant entities ensure the right of the public to full access to information. Government bodies should avail timely and sufficing updates for the public and the media.

Social media personalities are recommended to be responsible and avoid making and circulating false and misleading information.

During the month of October, almost all the debunked posts were related to the armed conflict in the Tigray regional state and neighboring states.

Only one post not related to the armed conflict was debunked.

Close to 90 percent of debunked posts accompanied by images

Almost all the false posts debunked by HaqCheck were accompanied by images.

We observe a few false social media contents supported by video clips. HaqCheck published nine standard fact-checking articles during the month of October. However, eight out of the nine debunked social media posts were supported by false and old images.

The only debunked social media post supported by a false video clip was shared on a Facebook post on October 5. The post shared a video clip and it claimed that the video shows the Ethiopian government sending its airforce commandos from the Bishoftu air force base to Asmara.

The video was taken from an old publication previously posted on Aug 29, 2022. The short description of the original video stated that it shows Ethiopian airborne troops conducting training.

Main issues behind false social media posts

HaqCheck figured out six main issues that false social media claims in the month of October were related to. These issues were transportation and deployment of armed forces, Sudan’s involvement in the armed conflict, aerial and ground attacks on civilians and torture, destroyed enemy weapons and facilities, the capture of places, and the American flag being burnt during a rally in Addis Ababa.

Transportation of soldiers and deployment of forces

False images and a video clip were disseminated supporting claims related to the transportation of soldiers and deployment of armed forces to battlefronts in the armed conflict.

For instance, a Facebook page posted a false image claiming that Eritrean and Ethiopian soldiers and Amhara regional forces were being transported to launch attacks via the Tekeze river up to northeastern areas of Tigray.

The image used to prove the claim was first posted on Sep 16, 2021, in an article titled “Ethiopia: UN-TPLF scandal like another layer of tacit support surfaced”

Sudanese involvement in the conflict

The indirect involvement of Sudan in the Tigray armed conflict supporting the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was also one of the issues that prompted false image-backed claims on social media platforms.

HaqCheck debunked a Facebook post accompanied by four old images claiming that the Ethiopian army along with the Amhara armed forces destroyed TPLF armed units that tried to launch attacks from Sudan via Humera and Metema.

All the images presented to support the claim were old and not related to the issue and the post was rated False.

Aerial and ground attacks on civilians and torture

Many social media posts with claims that civilians were the victim of aerial and ground attacks and tortures by troops were popping up during the month.

On Oct 28, 2022, a Twitter account with more than 16 thousand followers shared two images claiming that a rocket attack by Eritrean and Ethiopian forces in Shire town wounded many children.

The post which presented two images to prove its claim was rated Partly-False because one of the two images was old and from another place. The image was posted on Mar 24, 2022, showing an unexploded rocket in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Destroyed enemy weapons and facilities

Images of alleged destroyed weapons belonging to the belligerents of the armed conflict during the recent fighting were circulating on social media platforms.

HaqCheck fact-checked a social media post that shared three images with a claim that the Ethiopian Air Force destroyed TPLF’s arms depot in the town of Shire.

The post was rated False by HaqCheck because all the images were old.

The capture of places during the recent fighting

The capture of places by the belligerents during the recent fighting between the Ethiopian federal government-led allied forces and the TPLF was one of the main issues of false and controversial information on social media.

For example, on Oct 14, 2022, a tweet was made sharing an image with a claim that the Ethiopian army took control of Shire town. The tweet was shared many times across the platform.

Nonetheless, the image was first published by the Associated Press on Nov 17, 2020. Thus, the post was rendered as False.

The US flag being burnt during a rally in Addis Ababa

At the end of the month, HaqCheck observed claims that rally attendants burned the US flag during a rally in Addis Ababa opposing American intervention in Ethiopia’s domestic issues.

A Facebook page with over a hundred thousand followers made a post on Oct 23, 2022,  with the caption “American flag being burned in the streets of Addis Ababa.”

The post was rated False due to the usage of an inaccurate image to prove the claim. The image was first posted on the Skynews website with a news headline of ‘Haitians burn flags in anti-government demo’.

Recommendations

HaqCheck recommends social media users be cautious and cross-check claims. They should be skeptical and look for additional sources for controversial information they encounter.

We recommend that the belligerents in the war should be responsible and avoid contaminating public life through disinformation campaigns. They should give factual updates.

Government and other entities should offer the media and public timely and sufficient information. They should also ensure full access to information for the media and the wider public.