Fact Checks - Page 19 of 43

Did Ethiopia’s total debt mount from 28 to 56 billion dollars?

Tigrai Television on July 22, 2022, published a website article claiming that Ethiopia’s debt has dramatically increased since the coming of PM Abiy Ahmed to power in 2018. Citing a report by BBC Amharic on July 22, 2022, the media outlet stated that Ethiopia’s total debt was 28 billion dollars in 2018 and now after four years has amounted to 56.6 billion dollars.

Dimtsi Weyane Television on Jul 26, 2022, claimed that Ethiopia’s debt stock has skyrocketed since PM Abiy came to power.

Tigrai Television again reported the same claim that Ethiopia’s debt soured from 28 billion dollars four years ago to 56 billion dollars in a video report made and released on YouTube on August 11, 2022.

The claim by Tigray Television and Dimtsi Weyane Television was based on a report published by the BBC Amharic on July 22, 2022. BBC Amharic in its article misleadingly said “according to the World Bank in 2020, Ethiopia’s debt was 30.36 billion dollars. But after two years now, Ethiopia’s external and domestic debt is 56.6 billion dollars.”

The statement by BBC Amharic is misleading because the figure ‘30.36 billion dollars’ was only Ethiopia’s external debt stock.

The World Bank on its website has data regarding Ethiopia’s external debt stock from 1970 to 2020. The World Bank data indicates that Ethiopia’s debt in 2020 was 30.36 billion dollars.

A country’s total debt is a combination of external and domestic debts. The World Bank defines external debt as “the outstanding amount of actual current, and not contingent, liabilities that require payment(s) of interest and/or principal by the debtor at some point(s) in the future and that are owed to nonresidents by residents of an economy.” It is owed to sources that are external or non-residents and is repayable in currency, goods, or services. It is obtained from outside sources or lenders such as multilateral financial institutions, foreign governments, foreign commercial banks, external corporations, private households, etc.

On the contrary, domestic or internal debt is all liabilities owed to internal or residential lenders within the country.

Ethiopia’s external creditors are generally categorized into three; multilateral, bilateral, and commercial. Multilateral creditors are international financial organizations such as the World Bank, IMF, and other multilateral development banks.

Bilateral lenders are foreign governments and commercial creditors are external commercial banks or private financial organizations.

According to the annual report of the 2020/21 fiscal year issued by the National Bank of Ethiopia, the country’s external debt was 29.5 billion dollars in July 2021.

As of March 31, 2022, Ethiopia’s total (external and domestic) debt was 56.5 billion dollars, according to a statistical bulletin issued by the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance in May 2022. Out of that, external debt amounts to 28.5 billion dollars. The remaining 28 billion dollars was owed to domestic creditors (internal debt). Accordingly, external debt accounts for 50.4 percent and domestic debt for 49.6 percent of the overall debt Ethiopia owed.

Most of the loans Ethiopia borrows have been gained from multilateral financial institutions. As of the 2020/21 fiscal year, Ethiopia owed 19.5 billion dollars to multilateral lenders, 6.7 billion dollars to bilateral creditors, and the remaining 3.3 billion dollars out of the total 29.5 billion dollars in external debt were obtained from commercial lenders.

Out of the 28.5 billion dollars, 14.9 billion dollars, or 52 percent of the total external debt of Ethiopia as of March 31, 2022, was owed to multilateral creditors such as the International Development Association (a subsidiary of World Bank), the African Development Fund (a subsidiary of African Development Bank), IMF, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (an agency of the UN).

Loans from multilateral development banks such as the World Bank, IMF, and the African Development Bank are usually cheap and accessible. Additionally, poorer countries tend to these development banks for loans because their creditworthiness is low and commercial lenders cant lend to them fearing the risk of default.

Ethiopia’s creditworthiness has been decreasing from to time. That means that external lenders are not confident enough to extend loans to Ethiopia. Last year, Standard & Poor’s (S&P), a top global credit rating organization, downgraded Ethiopia’s creditworthiness to “junk”. In addition to that, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Ethiopia’s credit rating from B2 to Caa1 indicating Ethiopia’s higher susceptibility to defaulting on its debts.

Ethiopia’s external debt has been steadily increasing since 2007. According to the World Bank, the country’s external debt stock was 2.59 billion dollars in 2007. It has since then enormously expanded to reach 30.36 billion dollars in 2020.

In 2006 Ethiopia’s external debt stock significantly decreased and was the lowest since the year 1982. It was 3.28 billion dollars in 1982 and 2.22 billion dollars in 2006.

In 2006, the external debt of Ethiopia fell to 2.22 billion dollars from 6.18 billion dollars in the previous year and from 10.36 billion dollars in 1998.

Ethiopia benefited from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), both debt relief initiatives targeting poor countries. The prominent multilateral financial institutions, the World Bank and IMF together with the governments of developed countries, particularly the G8 countries started the debt relief to poor and indebted countries initiatives.

The HIPC Initiative was launched in 1996 by the IMF and World Bank to help poor countries struggling with debt burdens. The MDRI initiative was approved in June 2005, by the G8 countries.

Countries should meet the requirements set in order to obtain debt relief under these two initiatives.Ethiopia completed the preconditions of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative in 2004, and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative in 2005. Thus, the country managed to get its 1.3 billion dollars debt canceled under the HIPC initiative and obtained 2.3 billion dollars of debt relief under the MDRI program.

No: The image doesn’t show recent fighting between Al Shabaab and Somali regional forces in Ethiopia

A viral Facebook post appeared on June 21 sharing an image with a claim that Somali regional forces recently killed militants of AlShabaab in the Elekere woreda of the Somali Regional State. The claim stated that the Al Shabaab militias entered the Somali regional state in 14 vehicles and they withdrew to the Bakool region of Somalia after they suffered a major defeat by the Somali regional special police force.

However, HaqCheck confirmed that the image doesn’t prove the claim and was taken from an old publication.

Al Shabaab is a military organization formed in the mid-2000s in Somalia and designated as an Islamist terrorist group by the United States of America and many other countries since 2008.

At the request of the Somalia transitional government, Ethiopia sent forces to Somalia in Dec 2006 and removed Al Shabaab from Mogadishu.

Ethiopian federal and regional forces have maintained a presence within the territories of Somalia. Regional special police forces of the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia are still deployed in the Bakool region of northwestern Somalia as part of a security pact between the two countries.

The United States government also maintained a contingent attack against Al Shabaab armed groups in Somalia.

This week, the US military claimed that it killed two Al Shabaab fighters in a recent airstrike carried out over the preceding weekend.

However, Al Shabaab remained active and mainly operates in South-central and south-western areas of Somalia.

On May 2, 2022, Al Shabaab carried out a deadly attack on African Union peacekeeping forces in southern Somalia and killed tens of African Union peacekeeping soldiers.

VOA reported on July 20, 2022, that fighting erupted between Al Shabaab militants and Somali regional special police forces, in areas along the Ethio-Somalia border, in the northwestern region of Bakool, within the territory of Somalia.

It is in this situational backdrop the viral report emerged claiming that military engagement recently erupted in the Somali region of Ethiopia between Al Shabaab militants and regional Somali special police force and Somali regional forces killed militants of Al Shabaab in the Elekere woreda of Somali regional state.

However, HaqCheck found out that the image used in the report was old and doesn’t show a recent military engagement between Al Shabaab militants and the Somali regional forces.

The image was first published on May 24, 2018, on a site named Puntland Mirror, a self-described independent news outlet based in the city of Garowe, Puntland’s capital. It was published in a short news story that heavy fighting erupted between Puntland and Somaliland forces in the Sool region of Somaliland.

Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post False due to the usage of an inaccurate image that doesn’t prove the claim.

July week two disinformation and controversy summary

A false image of the alleged attack in Ataye

An image-backed claim appeared on Facebook last week that armed Amhara militias assaulted Oromos in Ataye. A Facebook page shared the post on Jul 12, captioned “Amhara extremists have turned back to Ataye because their deadliest massacre plan in Wollega has not worked out.”

The Page uses the map of the Amhara region and from the map points to an image claiming to show Amhara militias in the fortress.

The claim followed reports of a fresh conflict in Ataye, a town in the northern Shewa Zone of the Amhara region. There were different reports of gunfire in Ataye.

HaqCheck inspected the image used to support the claim that Amhara armed militias opened an attack on Ataye. It is found that the image was published on May 12, 2015, on a website called intriguing history.com under the title “New Data Register of the Anglo Boer War 1899-1902”.

HaqCheck rendered the image-accompanied claim False as the image used by the post was inaccurate.

Yonas Zewde’s claimed resignation due to rampant government corruption

A viral claim appeared on Facebook on July 14 reporting that Yonas Zewde, the head of the Communications Office of the Addis Ababa City Administration, resigned from his position. The post further explained that the communications head resigned because of widespread corruption within the current government and that the administration doesn’t care about the future of the country.

The claim that Yonas Zewde recently resigned from his post followed the controversy over the condo houses lottery draw.

Yonas Zewde was appointed by the Mayor to be the head of the City Administration’s communication head last year.

Al Ain Amharic reported quoting him a few days ago that the former communications head Yonas Zewde is just assigned to another post. Yonas’ transfer to another position is also confirmed in the report by Abdi Tsegaye, the current head of the Communications Office who succeeded Yonas.

HaqCheck however confirmed that the former Addis Ababa City Administration communications head did not resign from his position. Yonas Zewde was just assigned to another position by the administration.

Controversy over a recent condominium lottery draw

A condominium lottery draw was conducted by Addis Ababa City Administration on July 8, 2022. The draw was followed by widespread controversies.

Addis Ababa city administration dismissed the recent condominium lottery draw due to a claimed tech tampering by officials within the city administration.

False claims emerged immediately after the draw. Among the viral controversies was that Muluken Haftu, former head of the City Administration’s Innovation and Technology Bureau, and Yasmin Wohabrebbi, head of the Housing Development Bureau were arrested in relation to the lottery drawing fraud.

Many, from Facebook users to political parties circulated the information. However, the claim was later proven false.

Muluken Haftu was not arrested at the time. But on July 15, the Addis Ababa City Council revoked the immunity of its member, Mulukun Habtu in connection with alleged links with tech tampering by the city administration officials. He was taken into custody after the meeting on the same day.

Yasmin Wohabrebbi, head of the Housing Development Bureau also has not yet been detained or accused in relation to the public houses lottery draw controversy. She said on July 16, that her office apologizes to the residents of the city. Yasmin stated that her office will cooperate with [the police] to hold those who are responsible for the problem accountable.

Recommendations

HaqCheck urges social media users to be skeptical and crosscheck information including the authenticity and source. They should look for additional information and credible sources.

It is also recommended that social media content creators refrain from being agents of disinformation.

We urge the government to guarantee full access to information to the media and the wider public. Government offices should provide the public with timely and sufficient information on ongoing matters as one way of tackling disinformation.

HaqCheck also urges political parties, media outlets, government offices, and other entities to avoid disinformative statements.

Does the academic dress recently worn by Tedros Adhanom represent the Flag of Tigray?

A Facebook page with more than 54 thousand followers shared on July 17 a collection of images featuring the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Director of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom (Ph.D.), Indian movie actor Sha Rukh Khan, and the football legend Pele all wearing a similar academic dress of red gown and yellow velvet hood, captioned with lines of a song from a popular Tigrigna singer that reads, “The Tigrean flag does whatever it wants without bragging”.

The post is published after Tedros Adhanom, Director of WHO, received an Honorary Degree from the University of Edinburgh clad in similar academic dress. Different social media pages have shared an image of different celebrities and influencers wearing red and yellow Gown claiming it to be the Flag of Tigray.

However, HaqCheck inspected the claim and rendered it False.

On Jul 14, 2022, The University of Edinburgh gave an Honorary Degree to Tedros Adhanom, the Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the significant contribution he has made to raise the profile of nurses and midwives across the globe.

Later on, Dr.Tedros Adhanom forwarded his gratitude on his Twitter account for the honor bestowed on him by the University of Edinburgh.

The graduation ceremony was held in the graduation hall called McEwan Hall of the University of Edinburgh, in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

Tedros received his honorary degree as part of the graduation ceremony for Nursing Studies students.

Given the fact that Tedros Adhanom was a senior leadership member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and has been observed defending the TPLF in the Tigray war, the color of the academic dress he wore happened to be familiarized to the flag of Tigray.

The social media posts took the incident supposedly claiming that Tedros chose the gown to honor and remember Tigray. Besides, the posts used images of various politicians and celebrities wearing the same academic dress in a bid to show that these renowned personalities followed Tedros’ lead of honoring Tigray by wearing the same dress.

A Facebook page with more than 138 thousand followers shared a post on Jul 16, captioned, “Indian Movie Actor Sha Rukh Khan has joined ‘The Tigray Prevails Movement’.” by the time this article is posted the post had more than 300 reactions.

Since 1695 the University of Edinburgh has awarded Honorary degrees to over 2,900 individuals.

In 1984 The University of Edinburgh awarded an honorary degree to the former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe for his service to education in Africa. But later He has been blamed for Zimbabwe’s failing economy and accused of running an oppressive regime which later made his degree to be revoked by the university on Jul 16, 2007.

Flag of Tigray

Honorary degree recipients of the University of Edinburgh wear the scarlet gown with a yellow velvet hood according to the university’s code of gown dressing and has no connection with the Flag of Tigray or any movement. And the referred recipients of the University’s honorary degree, Justin Trudeau, Sha Rukh Khan, and Pele received their degrees on Jul 2017, Oct 2015, and Aug 2012 respectively, which shows they were not part of a claimed Tedros-led pro-Tigray campaign.

Even if the Honorary Graduates wear a graduation gown with the same color as the flag of Tigray. The claim used by different Social media posts is Wrong.
Therefore HaqCheck interrogated the Claim and rendered it False.

Does the image show a recent victim of the massacre in Ethiopia?

A Facebook page with more than 200 thousand followers shared an image on Jul 14, captioned, “This baby is not the Rwandan Tutsi Immaculée [Immaculée Ilibagiza] … She is the Ethiopian Amhara Immaculée who survived to tell us what really happened. Abiy Ahmed and his group are killing people whom the world saved in the ‘We are the World’ campaign in 1985.”

The post analogized the pictured girl it claimed is Amhara with the renowned Rwandan Tutsi Immaculée Ilibagiza who related the story of the Rwandan massacre and her journey in her book “Left to Tell”. Immaculée Ilibagiza was spared from the Rwanda genocide hidden in a house of a Hutu pastor who sheltered her and a few other Tutsi girls during the three months massacre.

By the time this article is published the post had more than 3 thousand reactions and was shared more than 700 times.

However, HaqCheck inspected the image and rendered it False.

There have been different reports of ethnic-based mass killings and massacres in West Oromia [Wollega] at different times.

Recently, On June 18, there were different reports that more than 100 people were massacred in Wollega. Different unofficial social media posts claimed that the number of civilians killed by the armed group [OLA] is far larger than official reports and would reach close to a thousand.

The government and different reports asserted that the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA)-Shane is behind the mass killings.

However, the international spokesperson of the OLA, Odda Tarbbi denied the claim that OLA soldiers conducted a massacre in Wollega, but rather were perpetrated by local militia.

The other background referred to in the post is the collective initiative of American musicians, We are the World campaign of 1985 aimed at rescuing the victims of the hunger emergency in Ethiopia. The population mainly affected by the hunger crisis were people in the Amhara region, whom the post claimed are being currently killed by the government, the same people who were rescued by the We are the World aid initiative.

The post is thus produced in the context when ethnic based mass killings, especially targetting the Amhara ethnic group, were rampant.

HaqCheck inspected the image used by the Facebook page to support the claim. It is realized that the image is from the genocide that happened in Rwanda. HaqCheck found the images in different posts at different times.

Link

Link

The Rwandan Genocide is one of the most notorious modern genocides. During this 100-day period between April and July 1994, nearly one million ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed as the international community and UN peacekeepers stood by.

On April 6, 1994, when the President’s plane was shot down, killing both the Rwandan and Burundian presidents, the radical Hutu radio channel announced the deaths, urging Hutus to “go to work” and attack the Tutsi population marking the beggining of the genocide.

Even though there are several claims that different massacres happened in Wollega , Western oromia, the image used by the Facebook page is out of context and doesn’t show an Amhara victim from the mass killings.
Therefore, HaqCheck has inspected the image and rendered it False.

Fake News Alert: Yonas Zewde did not resign; he is just assigned to a different position

However, HaqCheck confirmed that Yonas Zewde, the former communications head didn’t resign from his previous post. The administration assigned him to another position.

The claim that Yonas Zewde recently resigned from his post emerged amid a situation when some government officials have been arrested and dismissed.

The police announced this week that it arrested Mitiku Kassa, a former Commissioner of the National Disaster Risk Management Commission suspected of alleged corruption.

The Addis Ababa city administration has dismissed the recent condominium lottery draw due to a claimed tech tampering by officials within the city administration. It also announced that it is inquiring into the case and investigating the officials.

The report that the former communications bureau head has recently resigned followed the controversy over the condo houses lottery draw.

Yonas Zewde is a member of the Prosperity Party and was elected to the Addis Ababa City Council during the sixth general elections conducted last year.

He was appointed by the Mayor to be the head of the City Administration’s communication head last year.

HaqCheck reached out to Yonas in an effort to clarify the information. However, he declined to comment saying that he will officially publicize the issue by himself.

Therefore, HaqCheck confirms that the former Addis Ababa City Administration communications head, Yonas Zewde did not resign from his position and was just appointed to another position by the administration.

Does the image show armed Amhara militias launching an assault on Ataye?

A Facebook page with more than 38 thousand followers shared a post on Jul 12, 2022, Captioned “Amhara extremists have turned back to Ataye because their deadliest massacre plan in Wollega has not worked out.”

The Page uses the map of the Amhara region and from the map points to an image claiming to show Amhara militias in Fortress.

However, HaqCheck has inspected the image used to support the claim and rendered it False.

On Jun 18, different posts appeared circulating the report that the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) massacred Ethnic Amharas who live in west wollega Gimbi

woreda Tole kebele. Different unofficial social media posts claimed that the number of civilians killed by the armed group is far larger and reaches close to a thousand.

The international spokesperson of the OLA Odda Tarbbi denied the claim that OLA soldiers conducted a massacre in wollega against the civilians, but rather local militia.

Ataye Google Map View

On Jul 11, 2022, there were different reports of Gunfire in Ataye town, a place in Northern Shoa. the posts claimed that the members of OLA opened gunfire on Amhara residents of the town.

In this regard, a video claims OLA militants were entering Ataye with gunshots heard from afar.

Later on Jul 12, 2022, different media reported that federal and regional security forces arrived in the area to quell the clashes.

The post was shared in the backdrop of these situations.

HaqCheck tried to inspect the image used to support the claim that Amhara armed militias opened an attack on Ataye. It is found out that the image was published on May 12, 2015, on a website called intriguing history.com under the title “New Data Register of the Anglo Boer War 1899-1902”.

The South African War, sometimes called the Boer War or Anglo-Boer War was the first major conflict of a century that was to be marked by wars on an international scale. The war began on October 11, 1899, following a Boer ultimatum that the British should cease building up their forces in the region.

The Boers had refused to grant political rights to non-Boer settlers, known as Uitlanders, most of whom were British, or to grant civil rights to Africans.

But later the two belligerents had a meeting In Pretoria, when representatives of Great Britain and the Boer states signed the Treaty of Vereeniging, officially ending the three-and-a-half-year South African Boer War.

Even though there are several claims of recent skirmishes in Ataye town, the image used by the Facebook page to support the claim is wrong.
Therefore HaqCheck has inspected the image and rendered it False.

Weekly social media disinformation and controversy summary: July week one

Engagement between OLA/GLF and government forces

One of the claims that appeared during the week and were debunked by HaqCheck was an image-related claim that contends the image showed a military engagement between the government and rebel forces. A Facebook page shared the post on June 24, 2022, captioned, “OLA [Oromo Liberation Army] and GLF [Gambella Liberation Front], two militant groups fighting the Ethiopian government, have engaged in fierce combat. The two military forces have entered the capital of the Gambella region.”

The post attracted many audiences and received hundreds of shares and reactions.

The post presented two images in a bid to prove the claim. HaqCheck looked into the claim and found out that one of the two images was shared previously on Facebook. The original post stated that the image shows a military attack by the TPLF forces on the Ethiopian government-allied forces a year ago.

The second image is published on a website called OLAcommunique.com on Oct 20, 2021, detailing updates on OLA’s operation. The article relates the claimed victory OLA achieved in the Bule Hora, Gumi Eldalo, and Saba Boru districts. HaqCheck spotted the image in the article with the caption, “destroyed patrol vehicle in Bule Hora”.

Therefore, HaqCheck rated the image-backed claim False.

Sudan opening a fresh military attack on Ethiopia

Another claim was that Sudan had been opening a fresh military attack on Ethiopian forces along the Ethiopia-Sudanese border. A Facebook page published a post with two images on July 03, 2022, claiming that Sudan has pressurized Ethiopia by employing military incursions. The post managed to get hundreds of reactions and shares on the same platform.

HaqCheck looked into the images and confirmed that one out of the two images was old. The second image was taken from an old publication and didn’t show Sudan’s heavy weapons that arrived at the Ethiopian border.

The image was previously published in June 2011 on a news site along with an article that military engagement between Sudanese and South Sudanese forces on contested territories seemed imminent at the moment.

Thus, the post was rendered Partly False by HaqCheck due to the lack of relevance between the image and the claim.

Monkeypox outbreak in Ethiopia

There was a controversy regarding a monkeypox outbreak in Ethiopia during the week. The Ethiopian Reporter newspaper said that two people had been quarantined after being suspected of monkeypox.

The quarantined people, according to the newspaper, were isolated until the cases are confirmed by laboratories abroad where the samples are sent.

However, the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia denied the claim and announced that the information by the newspaper that two people had been isolated after being suspected of acquiring monkeypox was false.

The Ministry said that no suspect had been identified or caught the virus so far.

Recommendations

HaqCheck urges social media content creators to be responsible and avoid fabricating false and misleading information across social media platforms.

Media organizations and news outlets are recommended that they should avail accurate and sufficient reporting on matters of interest to the public.

We urge the government and public authorities to offer the media and public timely and sufficient information. Open access to information should be guaranteed.

HaqCheck recommends social media users be skeptical of controversial information and look for other trustable sources to cross-check the information at hand.

June monthly disinformation trend Analysis

Misleading titles and thumbnails of YouTube videos

Many YouTube videos with misleading titles and thumbnails have recently trended over social media platforms, particularly on YouTube.

YouTubers are using the tactics of employing misleading and false titles and thumbnails in their videos to grab people’s attention and compel them to watch their videos.

HaqCheck debunked such videos in June 2022. They were found on the video-sharing social media platform.

HaqCheck came across a YouTube video that premiered on July 23 with a thumbnail and title that reads “TPLF hijacked a plane”.

The entire content of the video was examined. However, the video explains that TPLF blocked humanitarian aid flights to Mekelle. It doesn’t state that TPLF recently hijacked a plane.

The video tells that TPLF denied the landing of a plane in Mekelle. There is no connection between the thumbnail and title of the video and its actual content.

Therefore, HaqCheck rendered the video MISLEADING due to the absence of relevance between the thumbnail/title and the content.

Again, on June 17 a video emerged on YouTube with a thumbnail having a title claiming the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) stated it is not interested in holding negotiations with the federal government of Ethiopia.

Though the thumbnail and the title of the video report that TPLF has no interest in negotiation, the content of the video explains the five preconditions set by TPLF for the supposed negotiation.

The title and thumbnail say that TPLF announced it doesn’t want negotiation while the content states TPLF presented five preconditions for negotiation.

HaqCheck, therefore, rated the video MISLEADING as there is no coherence between the title/thumbnail of the YouTube video and its content.

Conflict and violence

Conflict and violence across the country have still been a source of disinformation dissemination and controversies. Here are some examples of such claims that emerged in the context of these conflicts and ethnic violence.

The conflicts that have prompted the circulation of false information are the armed conflict between the government and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), which is addressed by the government as Shane.

A Facebook page shared a post on June 24, 2022, captioned, “OLA and GLF [Gambella Liberation Front], two militant groups fighting the Ethiopian government, have engaged in fierce combat. Be aware that the two military forces have entered the capital of the Gambella region which they were in the past week And take the attack on the military camps.”

HaqCheck cross-checked the post and found out that the image was shared previously on a Facebook page with a caption, “Campaign Alula Abanega demonstrates how the struggle in Tigray has raised the status of our heroes’ by one level.” The second image was found on a website called OLAcommunique.com on Oct 20, 2021, in an article about OLA’s operation update #13. The article details the claimed victory of OLA in the Bule Hora, Gumi Eldalo, and Saba Boru districts. The image is used in the article with the caption, “destroyed patrol vehicle in Bule Hora”. Therefore, the post was rendered False.

The other conflict that exacerbated disinformation was the military campaign conducted by the government against an armed group called Fano in the Amhara Regional State.

HaqCheck came across and debunked a claim that government forces destroyed the properties of Zemene Kasse’s [a Fano leader] mother with fire amid the government’s operation against Fano armed group.

Nonetheless, the image’s inspection showed it doesn’t prove the claim. HaqCheck found the image alongside the other three posted previously on Jan 23 on Twitter captioned in Afaan Oromo, “These pictures show the damage the armed forces, who came here crossing the Nile, caused on the properties of Oromo farmers in Amuruu district of Horroo Guduruu Region.”

The third factor of disinformation eminent in the month of June is violence. Inter-ethnic and other forms of violence have been occurring in many regional states of the country. In this regard, subsequent massacres have happened in Western parts of Oromia. Amid the incidents, false information about the massacres was spotted and debunked by HaqCheck.

After the June 18 Tole Kebele massacre in Western Wollega, false videos and images circulated with claims that they show the massacre. A Facebook page on June 21 shared a 13-minutes and 5-seconds video captioned “this video shows the massacre in West Wollega.”

However, HaqCheck confirmed that the video was first shared on Jul 23, 2021, by a Facebook account. The video was first shared with a caption, “WBO [OLA] is freeing prisoners, thousands of WBO commandos are marching to 4 Kilo.” The post was then rated False.

Recommendations

HaqCheck urges YouTube content creators and social media outlets to be responsible and avoid creating misleading video titles and thumbnails.

False titles and false thumbnails that have nothing to do with the actual content of videos have become the main disinformation trend on social media recently. This trend is overwhelming mainly because of commercial motives of obtaining more viewership for video content.

We recommend social media users be critical. It is advised to cross-check information rather than consuming and sharing it without questioning the authenticity of the information at hand. They should look for original and trustable sources for potentially misleading and deceptive issues.

Government authorities should ensure full and open access to information to the media and public. Public offices should also avail timely and sufficient information.

Weekly Summary: June week three

A false video of the Wellega Massacre

A Facebook page with more than 196 thousand followers shared a 13-minute and 5-second video on Jun 21, 2022, captioned, “this video shows the massacre in west Wollega”. By the time this article is published the video had more than 83 thousand views and the post was shared more than a thousand times.

HaqCheck inspected the video and found out that the video was first shared on Jul 23, 2021, on a Facebook Account. The video is captioned, “WBO [OLA] is freeing prisoners, Thousands of WBO commandos are marching to 4killo.”. The post had more than 400 views.

Therefore HaqCheck counterchecked the post and rendered it False.

TPLF hijacked a plane

A YouTube video premiered on July 23 having a thumbnail and title that reads “TPLF hijacked a plane”. Over two thousand viewers have watched the video so far.

HaqCheck looked into the full content of the video and confirmed that the actual content doesn’t state that TPLF recently hijacked a plane. The video tells that TPLF denied landing a plane in Mekelle. Therefore, the video is rated MISLEADING.

On June 23, 2022, the Ethiopian government accused TPLF of blocking humanitarian aid flights to Mekelle Airport, Tigray.

TPLF, responding to the accusation, stated that the airport has ceased operation due to the absence of fuel to run the facility.

In this context, a video captioned and titled that TPLF hijacked a plane emerged. However, the video explains that TPLF blocked humanitarian aid flights to Mekelle. There is no connection between the thumbnail and title of the video and its actual content.

Therefore, HaqCheck rendered the video MISLEADING due to the absence of relevance between the thumbnail/title and the content.

A manipulated Image

A manipulated image of Amleset Muchie, wife of the pop sensation Tewodros Kassahun was shared on Twitter. The manipulated image shows the Amleset kissing a Kalashnikov rifle.

HaqCheck fact-checked the image and confirmed that the picture was manipulated. The original image was taken from a Facebook page in the name of Amleset Muche and depicts Amleset holding and kissing an arm of a child.

Report on a claimed death of an artist

There was a report on Facebook claiming that Solomon Bogale, an artist died of an illness. The claim stated that the artist was abroad for medical treatment but died within 24 hours of his return back to Addis Ababa.

However, HaqCheck inquired into the claim and confirmed the information was false.

Recommendations

HaqCheck urges social media users to be cautious and cross-check information. They should refrain from sharing unconfirmed information immediately.

We recommend social media content creators be responsible and refrain from fabricating and circulating false claims and misleading statements.

YouTubers are urged to be accurate in reporting and should avoid misleading thumbnails and titles in order to grab people’s attention. YouTube videos with false and misleading titles and thumbnails have been trending recently.