On 20 January 2021 a Facebook post by the name Afmeer tv. (a page with 235,531 followers) shared an image that shows numerous military vehicles with soldiers with the claim that 5,000 Egyptian troops came to Sudan and have deployed to the border areas sharing an image that doesn’t prove the claim. The text which is written in Somali reads “Sudanese news outlets reported that 5,000 Egyptian soldiers came to support the Sudanese army. More than 3,000 Sudanese troops also are marching around the Sudan-Eritrea borders and the situation is worsening.” However, HaqCheck has interrogated the claim and confirmed that the image below doesn’t show 5,000 Egyptian troops that reached Sudan and deployed along the Ethio-Sudanese border. Therefore, HaqCheck has rendered the post as FALSE due to the usage of an inaccurate image to support the claim.
Granted, there have been armed clashes around the Ethio-Sudanese border since recently. Egypt condemned the attack by the Ethiopian armed forces and militias against the Sudanese army along the border terming the attack as an ‘unjustified assault’. Egypt ensured its full solidarity with Sudan and its support of the country’s right to protect its territory. There have also been reports that Sudan has sent more troops to the border areas as tensions rise.
It is in this context that the image was shared claiming 5,000 Egyptian soldiers came to Sudan. However, a reverse image search of the picture used in the Facebook post doesn’t show Egyptian troops recently reached Sudan and deployed along the Sudanese borders. The image was first posted on Ahram Online on 14 February 2018 and shows a military operation in the Sinai desert against terrorists and criminal cliques. Ahram Online borrowed the image from Egypt’s Ministry of Defense. The original post related to the image can be with the following link.
It is true that the border dispute between Sudan and Ethiopia has recently risen with Sudan reportedly deploying more soldiers to the border areas. However, HaqCheck has interrogated the claim and confirmed that the image below doesn’t show Egyptian troops who came to Sudan and deployed along the border, therefore, rendering the post as FALSE due to the usage of an inaccurate image to support the claim.
Fact Checked by Hagos Gebreamlak
Edited by: Bruck Negash Teame
This article is part of HaqCheck, Addis Zeybe’s multilingual fact-checking initiative, which is run by its R&D Department.
