A Twitter account shared a post on Aug 2, 2022, captioned, “URGENT! HIDDEN #genocide #WeaponizedStarvation in Oromia under Command Post since 2018…” and attached three images. The image was also shared on YouTube and other two Facebook posts.
However, HaqCheck inspected the images and rendered the post Partly-False.
These three images were also used as a thumbnail of a video on a YouTube channel with more than 900 subscribers titled “Beela Gujii fi Booranaa Itti fufeera | Deeggarsi Dhaabbate | በቦረና ዞን ድርቁ የቀጠለ ቢሆንም የሚላከው ድጋፍ ቆሟል |”. The video was taken from EBC (Ethiopian broadcasting corporation) shared on Jul 6, 2022, titled “the drought in Borena zone requires an immediate response by the Gov’t.”
One of the 20th century’s biggest humanitarian crises was Ethiopia’s famine and hunger crisis in the 1980s, which sparked a global effort to provide food aid and save lives. According to the United Nations, Ethiopia’s food shortages and hunger crises between 1983 and 1985 resulted in an estimated 1 million famine fatalities.
According to OCHA’s Report Rainfall deficits during the recent March-April-May 2022 rainy season have been the most severe in at least the last 70 years in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. The ongoing, four-season drought has been the most extensive and persistent event since 1981.
The report by The Africa Watch which is now part of (the Human Rights Watch) shows that many historic famines were the result of the way civil wars were waged. Sometimes, food stores were seized to feed huge armies of tens of thousands of soldiers. In other cases, cattle and crops were confiscated as a military strategy. These measures degraded communities, making them vulnerable when drought struck.
The claim is produced in the backdrop of the current drought situation in the region.
HaqCheck used a Google reverse image search to prove the correctness of the images used by the Twitter account to support the claim.
One of the images was shared on different Social media platforms to show the drought in the Oromia West Guji zone.
The other image was found on different social media accounts along with other pictures to show the famine caused by the drought in Ethiopia [oromia].
But, HaqCheck found out that one of the images used by different social media accounts doesn’t show the drought in Ethiopia [oromia].
HaqCheck found the images posted on Jul 13, 2022, on a website called The Kampala report.com Under the title “Karamoja MPs to Parliament: We do not want any more deaths from starvation.”.
Even though, there are several claims that there is a famine caused by the drought in Ethiopia’s Somali and Oromia regions, one of the images used by these different accounts is learned to be wrong.
Therefore, HaqCheck inspected the post and rendered it Partly-False.
