An image was circulating on Facebook supporting a claim that it shows an ongoing armed conflict between the Ethiopian federal troops and armed militia forces in the Amhara regional state.
HaqCheck spotted the image disseminating along with Facebook posts including here, here, and here. The posts reached many users across the Ethiopian landscape.
However, the image is old and it doesn’t show an ongoing armed conflict in the Amhara region.
On Apr 6, 2023, the Ethiopian federal government announced that it had decided that regional special police forces should be dissolved and integrated into the Ethiopian National Defence Forces, the Federal Police, or the regional police.
Following the decision of the government, tensions arose in the Amhara regional state and there were widespread public protests in the region opposing the federal government’s decision to disestablish regional special police forces.
On Apr 27, 2023, Girma Yeshitla, the head of the Amhara Prosperity Party was killed. The Ethiopian federal government and the Amhara regional government accused armed militias, commonly known as Fano, of assassinating the senior party official and vowed to take serious measures.
Unconfirmed social media reports claimed that the government deployed armed forces in the Amhara regional state to disarm Fano militants.
Recent news reports stated that Eskindir Nega, a former leader of the Balderas Party established a military organization named Amhara Popular Force to fight the Ethiopian government.
Amid that, social media posts alleged that there had been clashes in the region between Ethiopian troops and armed militias.
Against this backdrop, Facebook posts came out with an image claiming that the picture shows an ongoing armed conflict between Amhara regional militias and Ethiopian troops in Gojjam, Amhara region.
HaqCheck looked into the image and found out that the picture was published some years ago.
The image was published for the first time on Facebook on Nov 4, 2018. The original Facebook post shared the image with a description that conflict arose between the Ethiopian National Defence Forces troops and residents in Kobo, Amhara region.Thus, HaqCheck rated the Facebook posts that claimed the image shows an ongoing armed conflict in Amhara regional False.
