The week was relatively moderate in terms of disinformation and information disorder in general. We observed some posts of disinformation on social media. Most of the social media was filled with opinions and controversies not supported by any images, videos, or data worth fact-checking.
HaqCheck fact-checked two Facebook posts. Below is a summary of the information disorder during the week.
The release of Tamrat Negera
Last week was the time the state of emergency was lifted by the parliament. Immediately, social media activists and human rights groups began to call for the release of detainees who were detained during and in relation to the state of emergency.
Henceforth, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission released a statement urging the government to release people detained in relation to the state of emergency.
There was also an online hashtag campaign that demanded the release of Tamrat Negera and others.
Images of the journalist were trending on social media. On Feb 14, 2022, an image was shared on Twitter with a tweet that demanded the release of Tamrat Negera. The caption of the tweet reads, “If the Parliament lifted the state of emergency, I hope Tamrat Negera and others detained in relation to the state of emergency would be released.”
It is in this scenario the claim that Tamrat Negera is released from prison emerged on Facebook on Feb 15, 2022.
The caption of the Facebook post which shared a picture that shows Tamrat Negera and others reads, “We were told by our brother Yonas Weldeyes that Tamrat Negera is released. Extrajudicial detention has to be stopped.”
However, the image used in the post was first published on Facebook on Aug 7, 2021, by the name Tamrat Negera. Moreover, HaqCheck instantly reached out to Tamrat Negera’s family and confirmed that he was not released yet. Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post FALSE.
Looted artifacts from Tigray
There were also claims and many posts regarding alleged looted artifacts amid the war in Tigray.
There were reports that ancient heritages and artifacts appeared for sale on websites including eBay, raising suspicions that they could have been plundered from churches during the conflict in Tigray, according to The Independent, a London-based news outlet.
eBay removed from its platforms a number of rare Ethiopian items. But still, there are a number of cultural and religious Antiques on its platforms.
Meanwhile, a Facebook page with more than 13 thousand followers shared a post captioned, “looted artifacts from Tigray are being sold like this.” Under the caption is attached a link that leads to a news website called africanews.com.
The website posted a video on Feb 14, 2022, entitled “Tigray conflict: surge in ancient Ethiopian relics for sale.” By the time, the Facebook post had more than 200 reactions and was shared more than 90 times.
However, HaqCheck investigated the video and proved that it doesn’t show looted artifacts presented on e-commerce websites for sale at negligible price.
The video on the website claims, the latest victims of the year-long war in Tigray are the country’s rich artifacts, centuries-old manuscripts, scrolls which are offered on websites for a few hundred dollars and experts suspect that they have been plundered during the conflict.
HaqCheck found out that the video referred to by the Facebook post was first released on a YouTube channel on Nov 23, 2021, having more than 4.5 million subscribers entitled, “13 stolen artifacts returned after 150 years.” The video had over five thousand views.
Even though there are several claims that different artifacts are looted from Tigray during the war, neither the Facebook post nor the website video does not prove the claim.
Therefore, HaqCheck fact-checked the post and rendered it False.
Recommendations
HaqCheck recommends social media users question the credibility of the information they see before they take it for granted. They should try to cross-check information, images, videos, or claims before they share with their fellows.
Social media influencers and content creators should be responsible for their activities on their platforms. They should avoid, intentionally or unintentionally, creating and circulating false information.
Multinational corporations whose names are subject to such claims should give timely and sufficient information to prevent the dissemination of disinformation from reaching the point it can no longer be regressed.
A Facebook personal blog account with more than 13 thousand followers shared a post captioned, “looted artifacts from Tigray are sold like this.” Under the caption is attached a link that leads to a News website called africanews.com.
The website posted a video on Feb 14, 2022, entitled “Tigray conflict: surge in ancient Ethiopian relics for sale”. By the time this article is published the Facebook post had more than 200 reactions and was shared more than 90 times.
However, HaqCheck investigated the video and proved that it doesn’t show looted artifacts presented on e-commerce websites for sale with a price of a few amount of dollars.
Therefore, HaqCheck rendered the post as False.
The Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Federal government of Ethiopia had been in an active war since Nov 2020. During the war, different important and cultural heritages were destroyed.
The Ethiopian government promised to repair a centuries-old mosque and a nearby church which were damaged during the conflict in the Tigray region.
Given the impact of the war endangering loss of such heritages, there were claims that Ethiopian ancient heritages and artifacts appeared for sale on websites including eBay, raising suspicions that they could have been plundered from churches during the conflict in Tigray, according to reports of a British online Newspaper The independent.
E-bay an e-commerce company has removed from its platforms a number of rare Ethiopian items. But still, there are a number of cultural and religious Antiques on its platforms.
The website video claims, the latest victims of the year-long war in Tigray are the country’s rich artifacts, centuries-old manuscripts, scrolls offered on websites for a few hundred dollars and experts suspect that they have been plundered during the conflict.
HaqCheck found out that the video referred to by the Facebook post was first released on a YouTube channel on Nov 23, 2021, having more than 4.5 million subscribers entitled, “13 stolen artifacts returned after 150 years.” By the time this article is published the video had more than 5000 views. The video reports that after a century and a half away, 13 Ethiopian artifacts returned to their home.
Even though there are several claims that different artifacts are looted from Tigray during the war, neither the Facebook post nor the website video does not prove the claim.
Therefore HaqCheck inspected the post and rendered it False.
A claim appeared on Facebook on Feb 15, 2022 that Tamrat Negera, editor-in-chief of Terara Network, was released from prison. The caption of the Facebook post which shared a picture that shows Tamrat Negera and others reads, “We were told by our brother Yonas Weldeyes that Tamrat Negera is released. Extrajudicial detention has to be stopped.”
Tamrat Negera was arrested on Dec 10, 2021. He was taken from his house and his whereabouts were not disclosed for a week. Later, he appeared at court on Dec 16.
After the arrest, Addis Ababa Police transferred the journalist to Gelan City Police Department in the Oromia Regional State.
His case was finally transferred to the state of emergency so that the detainee wouldn’t need another court appearance schedule.
On Feb 15, 2022 the House of Peoples’ Representatives lifted the state of emergency that was declared in the beginning of November last year.
Henceforth, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission released a statement and urged the government that people detained in relation to the state of emergency should be released.
It is in this scenario the claim that Tamrat Negera is released from prison emerged.
However, the image used in the post was first published on Facebook on Aug 7, 2021 by the name Tamrat Negera. The image was also recently shared along with a tweet that demands the release of Tamrat Negera on Feb 14. The caption of the tweet made on Feb 14, 2022 reads, “If the Parliament lifted the state of emergency, I hope Tamrat Negera and others detained in relation to the state of emergency would be released.”
Moreover, HaqCheck instantly reached out to Tamrat Negera’s family and confirmed that he was not released yet.
A Facebook account with more than 100,000 followers posted an image on Feb 02 claiming to show Tigrayan mothers (whom it labeled ‘traitors’) digging trenches at a place called Aredo in Afar front in an effort of helping TPLF war efforts in the Afar regional state. By the time this article was published it had more than one thousand reactions and was shared nearly two hundred times. Other Facebook accounts also posted it with the same claim.
However, HaqCheck looked into the picture used to support the claim and rated it FALSE.
The war between TPLF and the federal government of Ethiopia has been ongoing for more than a year now. After the Ethiopian federal forces left Mekelle, Tigray’s capital, TPLF forces started to advance southward to neighboring Amhara and Afar regions.
A fresh counteroffensive led by PM Abiy Ahmed from the frontlines was launched and freed areas that were under TPLF’s control. Marking the end of the operation led by the Prime Minister, the government announced that its forces won’t advance further to Tigray and will be positioned at the borders.
There had been accusations by the TPLF that there were engagements with forces of the federal government and its allies on trying to advance into Tigray on different fronts. President of the Afar region, Awel Arba also accused TPLF of opening a fresh offensive on Afar.
The post appeared on facebook in light of this scenario claiming to show that Tigrayan mothers are helping TPLF in digging fortresses.
HaqCheck interrogated the image used to support the claim and found out that it is an old picture posted on Apr 12, 2019 on Facebook with a caption that people in Raya, Tigray Regional State were making terraces for water conservation and soil erosion prevention.
The effect of misinformation and disinformation is not limited only to the online milieu and social media platforms. It will also spill over into other parts of our life. The trend of information disorder and disinformation is varying with the course of the conflict in Ethiopia. In the following summary, HaqCheck covers the major disinformation trends observed in the previous week along with important recommendations.
False and manipulated images
Oromia Liberation Army closing the road from Addis Ababa to Gojam
On Feb 9, 2022, A Facebook page with more than 150 thousand followers shared an image captioned, “Oromia Liberation Army (OLA) closed the road from Addis Ababa to Gojjam as reported by various Amhara regional media.”
Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), is an ethnic Oromo armed group fighting the Ethiopian government alongside Tigrayan rebels.
In August, the armed group announced that it formed an alliance with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been fighting government forces in the north of the country since Nov 2020.
However, the image is found to be False, taken from a previous video on Aug 25, 2021, on a news and media website entitled,f “OLA is committing violence and crime on innocents in Wollega and Gujji zones.”
Even though there are several claims that OLA closed the road from Addis Ababa to Gojam the image used to support the claim is False.
Therefore HaqCheck checked the image and rendered it False.
weapons captured at Raya front
A Telegram channel and A Facebook page shared a post on Feb 4, 2022, captioned, “weapons captured from TPLF forces at the Raya front.”
The post had more than 800 reactions and was shared more than 100 times. By the time this article was published the Telegram post had more than 6700 views.
In order to prove the claim HaqCheck made an investigation on the images and spotted the pictures in a news video on Amhara Media Corporations’ YouTube channel published on Feb 2, 2022.
The first image is spotted in the news video on its 23 minute and 05 seconds
The second image is spotted in the news video on its 22 minutes and 57 seconds
Tigrayan women digging trench to help TPLF
A Facebook account with more than 100,000 followers posted an image on Feb 02, 2022, claiming to show a Tigrayn mother digging a trench to help TPLF attack Afar. By the time this article was published it got more than one thousand reactions and was shared nearly two hundred times.
HaqCheck investigated the post and proved that the image was first posted on Apr 12, 2019, on a Facebook page captioned, “a terrace will not help for the people of Raya, rather removing bad administration (governance).”
Therefore HaqCheck rendered it False.
The letter of Tsega Arage
A letter circulating on social media claimed to be written by the name of Agenew Teshager was another subject of controversy last week. But, the letter is actually written by Tsega Arage, a member of the prosperity party central committee, to the Prosperity Party Control and Inspection Commission.
Tsega discussed in his letter that “the Rules and regulations were broken in the party.”
Apart from the reality, there was a manipulated image circulating on Facebook. The post used a caption, “Agegnew Teshager has broken his silence” and attached the letter of Tsega Arage to support its assertion.
Since the letter was written by Tsega Arage, HaqCheck proved that the image was manipulated.
Therefore HaqCheck checked the post and rendered it False.
Recommendation
Social media influencers and content creators should be responsible for their activities on their platforms. We observe that social media influencers and content creators were sharing false images mixed up with new pictures. This makes it hard for users to identify the false from the real images which may also undermine the truth on the ground. Thus, they should be responsible and abstain from sharing false and unauthenticated images and information.
As a fact-checking initiative we recommend, everyone should inquire about the authenticity of the information before they read and share it with others. Users should identify and detect trustable, verified page sources to grasp the crux of any issue.
A Telegram channel with more than a thousand subscribers shared a post on Feb 4, 2022, captioned, “weapons captured from TPLF forces at the Raya front.” By the time this article was published the post had more than 6700 views.
A post with the same caption was also shared on another Facebook page with more than 17 thousand followers. The Facebook post had more than 800 reactions and was shared more than 100 times. However, HaqCheck inspected the images and rendered them False.
The Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Federal government of Ethiopia have been in an active war since Nov 2020.
At the end of June 2021, the Federal government declared a sudden unilateral ceasefire and pulled out its troops from Tigray after a request from the Provisional Interim Government of the region. Thereafter, TPLF forces advanced southward to territories in the Amhara and the Afar Regions.
After the federal government and regional forces launched a counteroffensive against TPLF, the Tigrayan forces started to retreat back to Tigray. Thereafter, the federal government announced that its armies will not advance deeper into Tigray and will stay on the borders of the Afar and Amhara regions. However, TPLF continued accusing the Amhara and Afar militias of attacking Tigray.
HaqCheck made an investigation on the images and spotted the pictures in a news video on Amhara media corporations’ Youtube channel published on Feb 2, 2022. By the time this article was published the video had more than 150 thousand views.
The first image is spotted in the news video on its 23 minute and 05 seconds
The second image is spotted in the news video on its 22 minutes and 57 seconds
The news video is headlined, “In an operation undertaken by the defense forces and the federal police on the terrorist Shene, more than 100 members of it are eliminated”
The video also shows surrendered members of the claimed terrorist group.
Therefore, HaqCheck inspected the images and rendered the images used to support the claim False.
HaqCheck observed that the trend of disinformation and information disorder in the Ethiopian media landscape is evolving and changing. A few months ago, the controversial issues people were talking about on social media platforms were related to the armed conflict in the country.
Nowadays, this issue is no longer the sole and main factor for information disorder across social media.
Below are the main controversies that caused information flow disorder in the Ethiopian social media landscape and the false claims fact-checked by HaqCheck during the first month of this year.
Celebration marking the release of TPLF officials
A claim appeared claiming that Sebhat Nega, co-founder and former chairman of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), celebrated his release with his family.
The caption of the video post reads, “The celebration of the release of Sebehat Nega and Abay Woldu in Addis Ababa”. At the time, the video had more than one thousand reactions, two hundred shares and was viewed by over 81 thousand users.
However, the video was old and taken from previous publications. HaqCheck interrogated the video clip and found out that it was posted four years ago on YouTube. The description of the original video clip on YouTube claims that Sebhat Nega was celebrating a birthday party with his family in Addis Ababa.
TPLF military truck destroyed by a drone attack
HaqCheck fact-checked a claim that a military truck belonging to the TPLF was destroyed by the Ethiopian army near Humera. The post stated that TPLF launched an attack on the Humera front during the Orthodox Christmas and action was taken in response by the government. Other Facebook pages also posted the image with the same claim.
However, the image accompanying the claim was false. It was posted on Dec 26, 2021, on a website with a claim that the truck was destroyed by TPLF forces in Kombolcha town, Amhara Regional State. Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post FALSE.
Government to disarm Amhara militia (Fano)
There was a controversy regarding a document allegedly drafted by the Ethiopian government. Based on the alleged document, many claims appeared that the government was preparing to disarm the Amhara militia (a.k.a Fano) in the Amhara Regional State.
The Amhara Prosperity Party issued a defensive statement that the document circulating on social media was somewhat altered. It explained that part of the document that elaborates the contribution of the Amhara people during the war with the TPLF was intentionally cut out of the document.
Besides, the Amhara regional government said that the claim that the government will disarm Fano (armed militia) is false.
However, the controversy continued. Social media posts appeared claiming the Amhara regional government had been calling armed militia (Fanos) to emergency meetings at localities.
Orthodox Epiphany not celebrated in Tigray amid fears of aerial attacks
Claims that the annual Orthodox Epiphany celebration was not held in Tigray due to fears of aerial attacks appeared on social media. On Jan 19, 2022, a Facebook post appeared claiming that the Orthodox Epiphany was not celebrated by the believers in Tigray amid fears of drone attacks. The post received over a thousand reactions and was shared close to a hundred times.
Counterclaims also emerged claiming the image was old and doesn’t prove that people in Tigray abstained from attending Epiphany celebrations because of the aerial attacks.
On Jan 19, 2022, another Facebook post was published with the same image above. The post asserted that the image was five years old.
Images of maps showing Eritrea and Ethiopia merged
There were claims that an image of a map merging Ethiopia and Eritrea as one country appeared during Epiphany celebrations in Addis Ababa and other areas.
A viral tweet was made with the claim that the map in the image appeared during the Epiphany celebration in Ethiopia and cautioned people to stop such acts since it undermines the sovereignty of Eritrea.
The tweet was retweeted over four hundred times and was seen by many users on the platform.
The tweet shared three images to prove the claim. However, one of the three images was false and taken from publications years ago. The third image was taken from an article published by The National News, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based news outlet. The original image was published in January 2019 along with a story entitled, “Ethiopia apologizes after Dubai marathon fans ‘erase Eritrea from map”.
Demolished compound of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council in Bahir Dar
Controversial images and claims had emerged last week following the information that the premises of the Bahir Dar office of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council had been smashed on the eve of the Epiphany holiday. A Facebook page with the name of Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Supreme Council shared three images along with the claim that the compound was destroyed by the mobs who were celebrating the holiday.
However, many posts appeared counterclaiming that the images shared don’t prove the alleged claim that the premises sustained damages by attendees of the Epiphany celebration.
On Jan 19, 2022, a Facebook post emerged with a refutation that the images show when the compound was demolished for reconstruction purposes. There also emerged a similar counterclaim alleging the images were old and show the premises during reconstruction.
Amhara militia & Fano checking the movement of departing Ethiopian army
A Facebook post was published with three pictures to prove the claim on 17 Jan 2022, that Fano and local militia checked the movements of the departing federal government army in Kobo, Amhara Regional State. According to the post, the federal army was leaving the area under the command of the Ethiopian army Chief-of-Staff following the approach of TPLF forces which supposedly intended to re-control the town.
However, two of the three images were learned to be falsely taken from sources dated 4-8 years ago.
The first image was first posted on 16 Dec 2015 in an article about the youth protests against the rule of the EPRDF regime. The link to the first image can be found here.
The third image out of the three images was taken from a Facebook post in Mar 2019. The post shared the image with a claim to show people blocking the road that connects Bahir Dar and Hamusit. Here is a link to the original image.
However, we could not find the second image that is shared to support the post’s claim.
The latest trend of misinformation emerging on social media is sharing old and false images mingled with new images. Recently, there have been false images circulating on social media claiming that they show the ongoing drought in Somali and Oromia Regional States.
There have been many reports that the regional states of Oromia and Somalia are hit by severe drought. Addis Standard recently reported that many woredas in East Showa and Hararghe Zones of Oromia were affected by drought. Furthermore, 6,398 children, 9,078 women, and 2,226 elderly people have faced severe health problems associated with malnutrition due to a drought in the Borana zone of Oromia regional state. The drought killed 7,540 cattle and some 13,641 cattle are moving around with the assistance of humans because the drought has weakened them. Many people and cattle have also suffered from drought in the Bale zone, Oromia.
Reports regarding the severe drought in the Somali region have also been coming out. According to a report, the drought which affected many woredas has killed thousands of livestock.
Despite the facts, many old and false images were tracked circulating on social media platforms with claims of the ongoing drought in Oromia and Somali Regional States.
Here are some of the posts that have shared old images claiming to show the drought in Somali and Oromia Regional States.
The above post shared an old image claiming that a drought in the Bale Zone of Oromia is looming and people are starving due to the emerging drought. But the image is taken from a report published in 2018.
This post claimed that drought has occurred in Oromia and Somali regions. However, the first picture of the four images in the post is old and was taken from a report regarding drought in Somalia and Kenya.
This Facebook post also claimed that drought occurred in the Somali regional state. It shared three images in support of the claim. But, the first image was taken and cropped from an image in a report published in 2019.
Reuters’ misleading state of emergency report
Reuters, on Jan 26, reported that Ethiopia’s cabinet approved the lifting of the ongoing state of emergency. The media outlet published a news article titled, “Ethiopia’s cabinet approves lifting of the state of emergency.”
On Jan 26, Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers passed a proposal to end the state of emergency declared in November last year to be submitted to the House of Peoples’ Representatives (HPR) for approval. Following the statement, Reuters came out with a news article that Ethiopia’s cabinet of ministers lifted the state of emergency.
It is true that the Council of Ministers approved a proposal to end the state of emergency. But the cabinet has no legal mandate to lift it by a decision without the approval of the HPR. Hence, the cabinet sends the proposal to the HPR for ratification.
Therefore, HaqCheck fact-checked the claim and found it MISLEADING.
False images of alleged fresh skirmishes between Tigray and Afar forces
There were also false images on social media, particularly Facebook, supposed to be supporting claims of the fresh fighting between TPLF forces and Afar regional armed forces.
A Facebook post was shared more than 50 times since it was published on January 25, 2022, on a page with more than 62,560 followers, which mostly features pro-Afar content. The post generated 1,200 reactions. A picture attached in the post shows a bulk of ammunition. Written in Amharic, the caption reported that Afar troops recently seized firearms from Tigrayan forces.
“The Afar are receiving the weapons the Junta is handing over,” reads part of the caption. Junta refers to the Tigrayan forces, while Afar is a neighboring region, which allies with the federal government against Tigrayan troops.
However, HaqCheck confirmed that the image shows weapons recovered by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in August 2014. Even though the image shows ammunition, it is old and unrelated to the recent conflict in northern Ethiopia. Therefore, HaqCheck rated it FALSE.
Recommendations
We recommend social media influencers and content creators should abstain from intentionally or unintentionally circulating false and controversial information on social media. They should not misinform their followers and the social media populace in general. They should be aware that their false information may pose online and offline damages.
HaqCheck recommends international media outlets be careful and accurate while reporting. They should make rational and professional explanations of the subject matter under discussion rather than leaving readers in the dark.
Social media users should be conscious of the origin and intention of unverified information posted on social media platforms. They should question the authenticity of the information before they read and share it with others.
HaqCheck urges concerned government authorities to offer sufficient and timely information to the public and the media. There should be regular frameworks to deliver up-to-date information.
HaqCheck encountered a message circulating on Telegram. The original source of the message is a Telegram channel, with more than 8700 followers, by the name of Safaricom Ethiopia. The message, supported with an image, claims that “A man is awarded an 80,000 Br. Apple laptop for inviting people to join a channel and 1000 accepted the invitation and joined.” The message also adds that there is still a chance of getting similar laptops and iPhone 13 Pro Max mobile phones by inviting more people. The message reached more than 58,000 people and within a short time, the number of subscribers reached over 16,000, by the time this article is published.
HaqCheck looked into the message and confirmed it is a SCAM.
Similar content was shared on a Facebook page with the same name. However, the page was found out to be created on Feb 2020 with a different name and changed on Jan 13, 2022, which indicates it was created for another purpose and now it is impersonating Safaricom Ethiopia.
On May 21, 2020, the Ethiopian Communication Authority and the Ministry of Finance announced a bid for private telecommunication service providers to engage in the local market. Following this telecom privatization opportunity in Ethiopia, a consortium consisting of Safaricom Plc, Vodacom Group; Vodafone Group; Sumitomo Corporation were officially awarded a license to operate telecom services in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia’s Telecommunications Authority awarded an operating license to a consortium led by Kenya’s Safaricom and Japan’s Sumitomo on May 22, 2021. Brook Taye, senior advisor at the Ministry of Finance said, “The consortium which includes Vodacom, Vodafone and British development finance agency (CDC Group), paid 850 million dollars for the license.
HaqCheck contacted Safaricom Ethiopia about the issue and confirmed that even though the company has a Telegram channel, it is not offering any prize and the aforementioned channel is not owned by Safaricom Ethiopia.
Moreover, the image used in support of the claim is found to be photoshopped. The background image, that shows a shop with Safaricom’s logo is one of the company’s shops found in Kenya.
Due to the above reasons, the message circulating on Telegram claiming to be from Safaricom Ethiopia is rated SCAM.
A Telegram channel with more than a thousand subscribers shared an image on Jan 31, 2022, captioned, “weapons captured by Afar militia at Berhale front.” By the time this article was published the post had 12,000 views and was shared with other Telegram groups having more than 46 thousand subscribers.
However, HaqCheck inspected the image and rendered it False.
Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) forces and the Federal Government of Ethiopia have been in an active war in northern Ethiopia since November 2020.
At the end of June 2021, the Federal Government declared a sudden unilateral ceasefire and pulled out its troops from Tigray after a request from the Provisional Interim Government of the region. Thereafter, TPLF forces advanced southward to territories in the Amhara and the Afar Regions.
Until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially announced to join the army at the battlefront, TPLF was nearing the town of Debre Sina which is 183km away from the capital.
After the federal government and regional forces launched a counteroffensive against TPLF, the Tigrayan forces started to retreat back to Tigray. Thereafter, the federal government announced that its armies will not advance deeper into Tigray and will stay on the borders of the Afar and Amhara regions. However, TPLF continued accusing the Amhara and Afar militias of attacking Tigray.
On Jan 24 Afar Regional State Communication Affairs Office notified on its Facebook page that The TPLF had intensified its offensive in Ab’ala and Magale woredas of the Kilbati Rasu zone in the Afar region to compensate for its heavy defeat in the Afar region.
The Telegram post appeared in the middle of this contextual situation.
HaqCheck used a Google reverse image search to prove the post’s claim. It is learned that the image was first posted on a website called (ጎልጉል)Goolgule, An internet newspaper, on Sep 05, 2021, in an article titled, “Illegal weapons confiscated in the month of August.”
Even though there are several claims that there is a clash at the border of the Afar region, the image doesn’t show weapons captured by the Afar militia at the Berhale front.
HaqCheck looked into the image that is used to support the claim and rendered it False.
A new trend of misinformation is emerging on social media. The trend is sharing old and false images mingled with new images. Recently, there had been false images circulating on social media claiming that they show the ongoing drought in Somali and Oromia Regional States.
There have been many reports that the regional states of Oromia and Somalia are hit by severe drought. Addis Standard recently reported that many woredas in East Showa and Hararghe Zones of Oromia were affected by drought. Furthermore, 6,398 children, 9,078 women, and 2,226 elderly people have faced severe health problems associated with malnutrition due to a drought in the Borana zone of Oromia regional state. The drought killed 7,540 cattle and some 13,641 cattle are moving around with the assistance of humans because the drought has weakened them. Many people and cattle have also suffered from drought in the Bale zone, Oromia.
Reports regarding the severe drought in the Somali region have also been coming out. According to a report, the drought which affected many woredas has killed thousands of livestock.
Despite the facts,, many old and false images were tracked circulating on social media platforms with claims of the ongoing drought in Oromia and Somali Regional States.
Here are some of the posts that shared old images claiming to show the drought in Somali and Oromia Regional States.
The above post shared an old image claiming that a drought in the Bale Zone of Oromia is looming and people are starving due to the emerging drought. But the image is taken from a report published in 2018.
This post claimed that drought has occurred in Oromia and Somali regions. However, the first picture of the four images in the post is old and was taken from a report regarding drought in Somalia and Kenya.
This Facebook post also claimed that drought occurred in the Somali regional state. It shared three images in support of the claim. But, the first image was taken and cropped from an image in a report published in 2019.
Reuters’ misleading state of emergency report
Reuters, on Jan 26, reported that Ethiopia’s cabinet approved the lifting of the ongoing state of emergency. The media outlet published a news article titled, “Ethiopia’s cabinet approves lifting of the state of emergency.”
On Jan 26, Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers passed a proposal of ending the state of emergency declared in November last year to be submitted to the House of Peoples’ Representatives (HPR) for approval. Following the statement, Reuters came out with a news article that Ethiopia’s cabinet of ministers lifted the state of emergency.
It is true that the Council of Ministers approved a proposal to end the state of emergency. But the cabinet has no legal mandate to lift it by a decision without the approval of the HPR. Hence, the cabinet sends the proposal to the HPR for ratification.
Therefore, HaqCheck fact-checked the claim and found it MISLEADING.
False images of alleged fresh skirmishes between Tigray and Afar forces
There were also false images on social media, particularly Facebook, supposed to be supporting claims of the fresh fighting between TPLF forces and Afar regional armed forces.
A Facebook post was shared more than 50 times since it was published on January 25, 2022, on a page with more than 62,560 followers, which mostly features pro-Afar content. The post generated 1,200 reactions. A picture attached in the post shows a bulk of ammunition. Written in Amharic, the caption reported that Afar troops recently seized firearms from Tigrayan forces.
“The Afar are receiving the weapons the Junta is handing over,” reads part of the caption. Junta refers to the Tigrayan forces, while Afar is a neighboring region, which allies with the federal government against Tigrayan troops.
However, HaqCheck confirmed that the image shows weapons recovered by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in August 2014. Even though the image shows ammunition, it is old and unrelated to the recent conflict in northern Ethiopia. Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post-FALSE.
Recommendations
HaqCheck recommends international media outlets be careful and accurate while reporting. They should also offer readers a rational and professional explanation of the subject under discussion rather than leaving readers in the dark. They should abstain from misinforming audiences by making misleading and inaccurate headlines of news articles. They should avoid ambiguity.
We observed social media influencers and content creators sharing false images mixed up with new pictures. This makes it hard for users to identify the false from the true images. Using false images also undermines the truth on the ground. Thus, they should be responsible and abstain from sharing false and unauthenticated images and information.
Social media users should question the authenticity of the information before they read and share it with others. They should be conscious of the origin and intention of unverified information posted on social media platforms and spot out trustable pages and sources to grasp the crux of the issue.
As we always do, we recommend the government provide sufficient and up-to-date information to the public and to the media. Disinformation and information disorder intensifies during times of shortage of information.
