A Twitter account that has sixteen thousand followers posted three images on Nov 20, 2022, to support a claim that residents of Mekelle protested against [TPLF] armed forces. The tweet alleges that the people protested because armed forces [of TPLF] hindered the delivery of food aid to the city. The Twitter post was viral and was retweeted over 250 times at that moment.
However, HaqCheck inquired into the claim and proved that two of the three images don’t show Mekelle residents recently protesting. Thus, the post was rated Partly False.
Fighting between the Ethiopian federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) resumed on Aug 24, 2022, after TPLF announced that the truce that was bilaterally adopted at the end of March 2022 was already violated by the Ethiopian government.
Later on, the TPLF announced that the Ethiopian armed forces and allied combatants launched massive attacks from all directions into Tigray.
After fighting in northwestern Tigray, the federal government-led allied forces took control of major Tigrayan towns including Shire, Axum, and Adwa.
Reports indicated that there were informal talks between the TPLF and the Ethiopian federal government to settle the armed conflict.
Finally, the belligerents signed a 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)’ in South Africa on Nov 2, 2022.
The Ethiopian government stated that aid has been flowing into the regional state after the peace agreement was signed. Other reports also indicate that humanitarian aid has since been delivered to Tigray.
The TPLF armed forces had been accused of looting USAID food aid in Amhara regional state. The World Food Program (WFP) also claimed that TPLF forces stole over half a million liters of fuel designated for humanitarian aid distribution in Tigray
Against this backdrop, a claim emerged on Twitter on Nov 20, 2022, alleging that Mekelle residents protested against [TPLF] armed forces for hindering food aid delivery into the city. The tweet shared three images to support the claim.
HaqCheck, however, proved that two of the three pictures were old.
The first image was taken from a Facebook post made on Jul 16, 2019. The picture shows a popular memorial monument in the heart of Mekelle city.
The second image was first published by Deutsche Welle (DW) Amharic on Jul 27, 2021, along with a short news story that Mekelle University students who were stranded in Tigray after TPLF armed forces captured the regional capital were safely evacuated.
HaqCheck could not confirm whether the third image supports the claim or not.Therefore, the post was rendered as Partly False.
