On August 31, 2021, a compilation of images in support of the claim that Ethiopian and Israeli air forces agreed to work together in order to keep the regional peace, had been shared on a Facebook group having more than 200,000 members. However, HaqCheck has examined the images and rated the post as False.
The ongoing armed conflict in the Tigray region has spilled over to the neighboring Afar and Amhara regional states since the federal army withdrew from the major areas in Tigray at the end of June 2021.
It is to be remembered that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed recently met Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and signed a military cooperation agreement. The post stating that Ethiopian and Israeli air forces agreed to work together on regional peace emerged. The Facebook post shared four images to support the claim.
However, HaqCheck has undertaken a reverse image search of the pictures to learn that the post doesn’t actually prove the claim. The first two images were taken on October 3, 2019, while a Casa CN235 and Mirage 2000-5 fighter aircraft of French landed at Dire Dawa airport. The pictures show the Defense Attaché of the French Ambassador to Ethiopia, as well as several authorities of the Ethiopian Air Force.
The third image was posted 7 years ago on a website article entitled “Four Ethiopian air force pilots defect to Kenya.” The image is noted to show a former Ethiopian Air Force pilot who defected to Canada in 2003.
According to a Tineye search, the fourth image was first found on July 22, 2008. HaqCheck couldn’t confirm the history behind the picture, for the sources that used the image have attached different stories making it arbitrary to identify the right one.
HaqCheck has analyzed the images and proved that they do not show members of Ethiopian and Israeli air forces on duty to support the claim that air forces of the two countries have agreed to work together. Furthermore, no official statement is made regarding the military cooperation of the countries until this article is published and consequently rendered the post False.
The ongoing war in the northern part of Ethiopia, between TPLF forces and the federal government, has been the center of attention since the beginning. For the past ten months, the situation on the ground has been changing rapidly. Given the fact that the war is undertaken in the dark where there is no possible access to information along with the disconnection of telecommunications, electricity, and transportation services intensified the information gap and disorder prevailing in the Ethiopian media landscape.
Social media platforms were filled with claims and counterclaims, controversies, allegations, unconfirmed rumors, and false information. In the following report, HaqCheck analyzes the disinformation trend in August with a recommendation that puts forward solutions that would be important in alleviating the effect of such information disorders.
False images
One of the ways of disseminating disinformation is using false images. HaqCheck has debunked several false information supported with pictures.
In this regard, a Facebook post claimed TPLF forces, which were hiding in a secret camp at the Geregera School in the Amhara region, were completely destroyed by the national air force’s operation using false images to support its assertion.
HaqCheck investigated the image and confirmed that it doesn’t support the claim and rated it FALSE. The image was taken from a post on 14 January 2020 showing an explosion at a petrochemical plant in northeastern Spain, near Barcelona.
Another social media post refuted by HaqCheck reported that the road connecting Addis Ababa with Bahir Dar was blocked by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). The images that were used to support the claim were actually taken from a landslide accident that occurred at the place that same day. Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post FALSE for using inaccurate images.
Another social media post HaqCheck looked into was a news article stating the death of nine people due to sudden flash floods in Addis Ababa. Despite the fact that the information is true, one of the two images used in the post is found to be falsely taken from another news report showing rescue workers in Haiti. The post was rated PARTLY FALSE.
In another instance, HaqCheck examined a claim that alleges Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed traveled to North Korea for a two-day working visit. The Facebook post that was made on August 25, 2021, shared two images in a bid to support the claim.
However, a reverse image search of the pictures by HaqCheck revealed that the images were first posted by the Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia, when PM Abiy Ahmed arrived in Seoul, South Korea, two years ago, on Aug 25, 2019. Moreover, there was no official announcement from the government regarding the Prime Minister’s travel to North Korea.
Another assertion that was fact-checked was a FALSE Twitter post asserting that a drone belonging to the Ethiopian National Defense Forces was shot down by TPLF forces during a recent engagement in the Amhara regional state.
However, the first image was shared on October 20, 2020, for the first time and shows a destroyed Turkish Unmanned Aerial Vehicle shot down by the defense army of Artsakh The picture was captured during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The second image on the other hand was first published on a website on July 16, 2020. The picture delineates a shot down Armenian drone by Azerbaijani forces amid clashes that took place across the countries’ northern border area.
Social media posts and allegations regarding the damage caused to one of the churches in Lalibela had also been spreading across social media. There was a picture of one of the churches, Biete Amanuel, displaying gunshot holes, in support of the claim that the TPLF forces had attacked the church.
However, the images were old pictures of one of the churches and the holes that seemed to be gunshots were not from an attack by TPLF.
On August 5, 2021, TPLF forces took control of the town of Lalibela in the North Wollo zone of the Amhara regional state. Following the news, the US asked the TPLF forces to respect the site’s heritage. It was reported that Getachew Reda, the spokesman for the TPLF, said “the concerns were misplaced. We know what it means to protect heritage sites.”
Reporting errors
Mistakes that are made during reporting also exacerbate disinformation. One of such kinds of misinformation that was circulating on social media was a video HaqCheck looked into. The video clip emerged reporting that a recently proposed US resolution on Ethiopia, had been repudiated by the Ethiopian-born American former Congress candidate Ted Alemayehu.
However, HaqCheck rated it Misleading. The resolution was neither overturned nor permanently removed. Ted Alemayehu, also on his Facebook page, said the information in the video clip was not accurate. In another post, he further clarified the issue saying that the only thing he had said is the resolution would not be submitted that week but not that it was canceled.
The Facebook post by Al Jazeera English entitled ‘Erdogan offers to mediate an end to Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict’ was also part of the misinformation the past month.
HaqCheck looked into the post and confirmed the title and content of the article do not match. Therefore rated it as MISLEADING HEADLINE due to the false connection between the post on Facebook and the article on the website.
Another one was an article by Addis Standard, a local news outlet. The outlet published an article of an English translation to a Facebook post by Temesgen Tiruneh, head of the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) on August 25, 2021.
In the Facebook post, the intelligence chief criticized some foreign countries which consider themselves as “police of the world and teachers of democracy”, for supporting TPLF. However, The newspaper, Addis Standard, quoted Temesgen criticizing these countries for “providing arms”, which is not actually said in his Facebook post.
Later on, The Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA), released a disinformation alert saying “a very sensitive content that jeopardizes national security interest, was added”. Addis Standard then admitted the misquote and officially apologized for it.
Allegations
The other disinformation trend that was prominent on social media was allegations on different organizations.
An allegation on a Facebook post holds that a huge amount of money had been found on people working for the International Committee of Red Cross Ethiopia (ICRC) at a checkpoint in the Afar region. The posts claim that the cash was intended to be provided to the TPLF forces. However, the International Committee of Red Cross Ethiopia issued a statement saying the allegation was false.
Ethiopian Airlines was also accused of transporting soldiers and firearms to Tigray. There were several viral tweets alleging the state flagship was used to transport military cargo. These claims were followed up with campaigns that called for the boycotting of the airline.
Ethiopian Airlines responded by denying the allegation on social media and said that all flights from and to Tigray had been suspended over a month ago. The national carrier said there had been no flights to the war-torn region since the end of June. Despite the counterstatement by the airline, the allegations continued reiterating the statement that Ethiopian Airlines is transporting firearms cargo to the country. Social media posts claimed on August 12, 2021, that firearms were unloaded at Bole International Airport.
Unconfirmed, controversial issues
Ethiopian social media in August was crowded with claims and counterclaims here and there. Most of them were related to the conflict in Tigray.
Meanwhile, images and reports flooded social media claiming that Amhara regional militias had committed massacres on Tigreans in Humera. The BBC, AlJazeera, CNN, New York Times, VOA, Reuters, and other news outlets reported that dead bodies were found floating in the Tekeze river, also known as Setit, around the Sudan border, referring to eyewitnesses.
In another case, a claim that went viral across social media reported that Afar regional Special Force deputy Commander, Mohammud Ibrahim, had joined the TPLF, being part of the trend. The person, is said to have joined the TPLFl forces, was interviewed by a TV station affiliated with TPLF.
Later on, the Afar Regional State Communication Office released a statement regarding the issue elaborating that Mohammud is the former deputy commander of the Afar Regional State Special Police Force. However, he was imprisoned for his involvement in an alleged contraband trade before the new leadership came to power back in 2018. The statement also added that he was later released from prison, with the government’s pardon and his actions can no longer represent the regional government.
In a similar framework, there were a series of posts on social media, mainly Facebook and Twitter, with an assertion that Ethiopia shut down its embassy in Washington DC. The claims also stated that Ethiopia had been evacuating its diplomatic staff from its embassies in Germany and in the United States, with diplomats stationed there, set to return back home.
The Ethiopian ambassador to the US, Fitsum Arega, responded by refuting the claims, explaining that the embassy is on its regular operation actively undertaking its services.
Social media platforms, largely Facebook and Twitter, were deluged with images and video clips regarding military equipment confiscation.
Both sides in the Tigray conflict claimed their side had seized military armaments. State-affiliated news outlets such as the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) and Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) shared the images claiming that heavy military hardware had been confiscated from the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) forces. It was also reported that the group suffered heavy human and material losses around Gashena, in Amhara regional state.
It was reported that an attack was mounted on the TPLF forces making the group retreat to North Wollo Zone areas – Estayish, Ahuntegegn, Gashena, Gergera, and Filakit towns. According to the reports, the group was transporting the items, looted from governmental, non-governmental organizations, and from the public in that area.
It was also claimed that Amhara Special Forces and militias, in collaboration with farmers, had attacked TPLF-forces, which obliged TPLF forces to abandon the property they looted and retreat to the nearby town called Ase.
Image: Taken from social media
On the other hand, other posts were also circulating at the same time with an assertion that the vehicles in the image were captured from the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and aligned forces in Gashena.
A day after the news first broke, allegations arose from TPLF activists saying EBC and FBC were circulating disinformation. As a counterclaim, a video clip was released by TPLF activists and media, which seemed to be recorded by TPLF troops, showing the exact view similar to the images used in the social media posts.
In another issue, viral claims emerged alleging that high-ranking federal and regional government officials including diplomats and Prosperity Party-affiliated persons had fled the country. The posts and tweets claimed that the former Amhara Regional State president and current National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) directorTemesgen Tiruneh fled the country to Germany on the morning of 18 August 2021.
However, other images posted on the same day, the original claims were published, show Temesgen Tiruneh alongside Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) during a one-day working visit to Ankara, Turkey. According to the images, the NISS director went to Turkey with the PM and other government officials on August 18, 2021.
Image: Taken from a Facebook post of Prime Minister Abiy
The visit of Samantha Power to Ethiopia
Another disinformation trend this month was the visit of USAID chief Samantha Power to Ethiopia. She came to Ethiopia on August 5, 2021, and met Muferiat Kamil, Minister of Peace, and Lia Tadesse, Minister of Health.
She didn’t meet Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) who was said to be out of the capital. Amid the diplomatic stand-off, claims emerged that Power had been told she couldn’t meet with the Prime Minister and instead would attend meetings with lower-ranking government officials. The claim added that Power was notified Abiy could only meet with state leaders with equal positions.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said Power was told that the Prime Minister or the Minister of Foreign Affairs could not be available due to tight schedules.
Power also responded to the speculation on social media saying that she had come to the country for humanitarian purposes, not for a regime change.
There were also controversial reports about her visit to Addis Ababa, framing what she said from one angle. Some local news outlets said that she denounced the attacks by the TPLF. Others reported that she criticized Prime Minister Abiy for using adverse rhetoric and terms against communities.
‘Genocidal rhetoric’ by Daniel Kibret
In the last week of the month, a tweet posted on 25 August 2021 asserts that a recent speech by Daniel Kibret has a metaphorical message of genocidal intentions against the people of Tigray. It refers to a phrase in his statement that says “malignant tumor”. Daniel Kibret is an advisor to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. This tweet went viral and has been retweeted in the hundreds.
The cited phrase by Daniel Kibret comes from a speech he delivered, on August 17, at an artistic public speaking event entitled: “Ethiopia and External Pressure; Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” at the Ethiopian National Theatre.
Referring to the ongoing political chaos in Ethiopia, he said that there is a certainly fatal disease that can only be cured through medical operation. He used the metaphor “tumor” to describe the disease which he stated has been growing in the country for the past 40 years.
He said “… the tumor must be removed through [medical] operation … although that is painful. They may have told us ‘you better live with the tumor’… but they will not suffer the pain of the tumor for us. Why don’t they just do it themselves … by living with a tumor (like Taliban, for instance)? We should get rid of the tumor and be relieved…”
Recommendations
HaqCheck recommends the public look for information from credible and original sources. They should also refer to statements, updates, and clarifications from authorities regarding the matter. Social media users are recommended to refer to original sources of video clips or images that are embedded to support claims.
Open information access to the media and journalists, and to the general public should be allowed.
Media institutions, organizations, and all concerned authorities should provide the public with timely and sufficient information on critical issues. Journalists and news outlets should look into both sides of a story when reporting. They should follow discipline in all aspects. More effort, dedication, and transparency are expected from local media in reporting the conflict and related issues.
International media outlets should be more careful about their reporting, especially regarding sensitive issues. A more transparent correction is also required if a mistake is made.
Social media activists, information pages, and bloggers should be careful about what they share. Especially when quoting another source, they have to make sure they use the right information and context.
Public figures, politicians, government authorities, and all parties should take conscious care in their speech, especially regarding sensitive issues. They need to use easy and understandable language and avoid ambiguity as much as possible.
HaqCheck is a local multilingual fact-checking project based in Ethiopia, formed inside Addis Zeybe’s newsroom, now Inform Africa’s Counter Disinformation Project – a board-led Civil Society Organization (CSO) – dedicated to verifying media contents from social to the mainstream. HaqCheck works in collaboration with media outlets to monitor media contents in English and four local languages (Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, and Somali).
This report is produced with the support of UNESCO under the #CoronavirusFacts: Addressing the ‘Disinfodemic’ on COVID-19 in conflict-prone Environments that the UNESCO Addis Ababa Office is implementing in Ethiopia with financial support from the European Union (EU). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or the EU concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO or The European Union and do not commit these organizations in any way.
The ongoing war in the northern part of Ethiopia, between TPLF forces and the federal government, has been the center of attention since the beginning. For the past ten months, the situation on the ground has been changing rapidly. Given the fact that the war is undertaken in the dark where there is no possible access to information along with the disconnection of telecommunications, electricity, and transportation services intensified the information gap and disorder prevailing in the Ethiopian media landscape.
Social media platforms were filled with claims and counterclaims, controversies, allegations, unconfirmed rumors, and false information. In the following report, HaqCheck analyzes the disinformation trend in August with a recommendation that puts forward solutions that would be important in alleviating the effect of such information disorders.
False images
One of the ways of disseminating disinformation is using false images. HaqCheck has debunked several false information supported with pictures.
In this regard, a Facebook post claimed TPLF forces, which were hiding in a secret camp at the Geregera School in the Amhara region, were completely destroyed by the national air force’s operation using false images to support its assertion.
HaqCheck investigated the image and confirmed that it doesn’t support the claim and rated it FALSE. The image was taken from a post on 14 January 2020 showing an explosion at a petrochemical plant in northeastern Spain, near Barcelona.
Another social media post refuted by HaqCheck reported that the road connecting Addis Ababa with Bahir Dar was blocked by the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). The images that were used to support the claim were actually taken from a landslide accident that occurred at the place that same day. Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post FALSE for using inaccurate images.
Another social media post HaqCheck looked into was a news article stating the death of nine people due to sudden flash floods in Addis Ababa. Despite the fact that the information is true, one of the two images used in the post is found to be falsely taken from another news report showing rescue workers in Haiti. The post was rated PARTLY FALSE.
In another instance, HaqCheck examined a claim that alleges Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed traveled to North Korea for a two-day working visit. The Facebook post that was made on August 25, 2021, shared two images in a bid to support the claim.
However, a reverse image search of the pictures by HaqCheck revealed that the images were first posted by the Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia, when PM Abiy Ahmed arrived in Seoul, South Korea, two years ago, on Aug 25, 2019. Moreover, there was no official announcement from the government regarding the Prime Minister’s travel to North Korea.
Another assertion that was fact-checked was a FALSE Twitter post asserting that a drone belonging to the Ethiopian National Defense Forces was shot down by TPLF forces during a recent engagement in the Amhara regional state.
However, the first image was shared on October 20, 2020, for the first time and shows a destroyed Turkish Unmanned Aerial Vehicle shot down by the defense army of Artsakh The picture was captured during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The second image on the other hand was first published on a website on July 16, 2020. The picture delineates a shot down Armenian drone by Azerbaijani forces amid clashes that took place across the countries’ northern border area.
Social media posts and allegations regarding the damage caused to one of the churches in Lalibela had also been spreading across social media. There was a picture of one of the churches, Biete Amanuel, displaying gunshot holes, in support of the claim that the TPLF forces had attacked the church.
However, the images were old pictures of one of the churches and the holes that seemed to be gunshots were not from an attack by TPLF.
On August 5, 2021, TPLF forces took control of the town of Lalibela in the North Wollo zone of the Amhara regional state. Following the news, the US asked the TPLF forces to respect the site’s heritage. It was reported that Getachew Reda, the spokesman for the TPLF, said “the concerns were misplaced. We know what it means to protect heritage sites.”
Reporting errors
Mistakes that are made during reporting also exacerbate disinformation. One of such kinds of misinformation that was circulating on social media was a video HaqCheck looked into. The video clip emerged reporting that a recently proposed US resolution on Ethiopia, had been repudiated by the Ethiopian-born American former Congress candidate Ted Alemayehu.
However, HaqCheck rated it Misleading. The resolution was neither overturned nor permanently removed. Ted Alemayehu, also on his Facebook page, said the information in the video clip was not accurate. In another post, he further clarified the issue saying that the only thing he had said is the resolution would not be submitted that week but not that it was canceled.
The Facebook post by Al Jazeera English entitled ‘Erdogan offers to mediate an end to Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict’ was also part of the misinformation the past month.
HaqCheck looked into the post and confirmed the title and content of the article do not match. Therefore rated it as MISLEADING HEADLINE due to the false connection between the post on Facebook and the article on the website.
Another one was an article by Addis Standard, a local news outlet. The outlet published an article of an English translation to a Facebook post by Temesgen Tiruneh, head of the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) on August 25, 2021.
In the Facebook post, the intelligence chief criticized some foreign countries which consider themselves as “police of the world and teachers of democracy”, for supporting TPLF. However, The newspaper, Addis Standard, quoted Temesgen criticizing these countries for “providing arms”, which is not actually said in his Facebook post.
Later on, The Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA), released a disinformation alert saying “a very sensitive content that jeopardizes national security interest, was added”. Addis Standard then admitted the misquote and officially apologized for it.
Allegations
The other disinformation trend that was prominent on social media was allegations on different organizations.
An allegation on a Facebook post holds that a huge amount of money had been found on people working for the International Committee of Red Cross Ethiopia (ICRC) at a checkpoint in the Afar region. The posts claim that the cash was intended to be provided to the TPLF forces. However, the International Committee of Red Cross Ethiopia issued a statement saying the allegation was false.
Ethiopian Airlines was also accused of transporting soldiers and firearms to Tigray. There were several viral tweets alleging the state flagship was used to transport military cargo. These claims were followed up with campaigns that called for the boycotting of the airline.
Ethiopian Airlines responded by denying the allegation on social media and said that all flights from and to Tigray had been suspended over a month ago. The national carrier said there had been no flights to the war-torn region since the end of June. Despite the counterstatement by the airline, the allegations continued reiterating the statement that Ethiopian Airlines is transporting firearms cargo to the country. Social media posts claimed on August 12, 2021, that firearms were unloaded at Bole International Airport.
Unconfirmed, controversial issues
Ethiopian social media in August was crowded with claims and counterclaims here and there. Most of them were related to the conflict in Tigray.
Meanwhile, images and reports flooded social media claiming that Amhara regional militias had committed massacres on Tigreans in Humera. The BBC, AlJazeera, CNN, New York Times, VOA, Reuters, and other news outlets reported that dead bodies were found floating in the Tekeze river, also known as Setit, around the Sudan border, referring to eyewitnesses.
In another case, a claim that went viral across social media reported that Afar regional Special Force deputy Commander, Mohammud Ibrahim, had joined the TPLF, being part of the trend. The person, is said to have joined the TPLFl forces, was interviewed by a TV station affiliated with TPLF.
Later on, the Afar Regional State Communication Office released a statement regarding the issue elaborating that Mohammud is the former deputy commander of the Afar Regional State Special Police Force. However, he was imprisoned for his involvement in an alleged contraband trade before the new leadership came to power back in 2018. The statement also added that he was later released from prison, with the government’s pardon and his actions can no longer represent the regional government.
In a similar framework, there were a series of posts on social media, mainly Facebook and Twitter, with an assertion that Ethiopia shut down its embassy in Washington DC. The claims also stated that Ethiopia had been evacuating its diplomatic staff from its embassies in Germany and in the United States, with diplomats stationed there, set to return back home.
The Ethiopian ambassador to the US, Fitsum Arega, responded by refuting the claims, explaining that the embassy is on its regular operation actively undertaking its services.
Social media platforms, largely Facebook and Twitter, were deluged with images and video clips regarding military equipment confiscation.
Both sides in the Tigray conflict claimed their side had seized military armaments. State-affiliated news outlets such as the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) and Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) shared the images claiming that heavy military hardware had been confiscated from the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) forces. It was also reported that the group suffered heavy human and material losses around Gashena, in Amhara regional state.
It was reported that an attack was mounted on the TPLF forces making the group retreat to North Wollo Zone areas – Estayish, Ahuntegegn, Gashena, Gergera, and Filakit towns. According to the reports, the group was transporting the items, looted from governmental, non-governmental organizations, and from the public in that area.
It was also claimed that Amhara Special Forces and militias, in collaboration with farmers, had attacked TPLF-forces, which obliged TPLF forces to abandon the property they looted and retreat to the nearby town called Ase.
Image: Taken from social media
On the other hand, other posts were also circulating at the same time with an assertion that the vehicles in the image were captured from the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and aligned forces in Gashena.
A day after the news first broke, allegations arose from TPLF activists saying EBC and FBC were circulating disinformation. As a counterclaim, a video clip was released by TPLF activists and media, which seemed to be recorded by TPLF troops, showing the exact view similar to the images used in the social media posts.
In another issue, viral claims emerged alleging that high-ranking federal and regional government officials including diplomats and Prosperity Party-affiliated persons had fled the country. The posts and tweets claimed that the former Amhara Regional State president and current National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) directorTemesgen Tiruneh fled the country to Germany on the morning of 18 August 2021.
However, other images posted on the same day, the original claims were published, show Temesgen Tiruneh alongside Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) during a one-day working visit to Ankara, Turkey. According to the images, the NISS director went to Turkey with the PM and other government officials on August 18, 2021.
Image: Taken from a Facebook post of Prime Minister Abiy
The visit of Samantha Power to Ethiopia
Another disinformation trend this month was the visit of USAID chief Samantha Power to Ethiopia. She came to Ethiopia on August 5, 2021, and met Muferiat Kamil, Minister of Peace, and Lia Tadesse, Minister of Health.
She didn’t meet Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) who was said to be out of the capital. Amid the diplomatic stand-off, claims emerged that Power had been told she couldn’t meet with the Prime Minister and instead would attend meetings with lower-ranking government officials. The claim added that Power was notified Abiy could only meet with state leaders with equal positions.
The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said Power was told that the Prime Minister or the Minister of Foreign Affairs could not be available due to tight schedules.
Power also responded to the speculation on social media saying that she had come to the country for humanitarian purposes, not for a regime change.
There were also controversial reports about her visit to Addis Ababa, framing what she said from one angle. Some local news outlets said that she denounced the attacks by the TPLF. Others reported that she criticized Prime Minister Abiy for using adverse rhetoric and terms against communities.
‘Genocidal rhetoric’ by Daniel Kibret
In the last week of the month, a tweet posted on 25 August 2021 asserts that a recent speech by Daniel Kibret has a metaphorical message of genocidal intentions against the people of Tigray. It refers to a phrase in his statement that says “malignant tumor”. Daniel Kibret is an advisor to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. This tweet went viral and has been retweeted in the hundreds.
The cited phrase by Daniel Kibret comes from a speech he delivered, on August 17, at an artistic public speaking event entitled: “Ethiopia and External Pressure; Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” at the Ethiopian National Theatre.
Referring to the ongoing political chaos in Ethiopia, he said that there is a certainly fatal disease that can only be cured through medical operation. He used the metaphor “tumor” to describe the disease which he stated has been growing in the country for the past 40 years.
He said “… the tumor must be removed through [medical] operation … although that is painful. They may have told us ‘you better live with the tumor’… but they will not suffer the pain of the tumor for us. Why don’t they just do it themselves … by living with a tumor (like Taliban, for instance)? We should get rid of the tumor and be relieved…”
Recommendations
HaqCheck recommends the public look for information from credible and original sources. They should also refer to statements, updates, and clarifications from authorities regarding the matter. Social media users are recommended to refer to original sources of video clips or images that are embedded to support claims.
Open information access to the media and journalists, and to the general public should be allowed.
Media institutions, organizations, and all concerned authorities should provide the public with timely and sufficient information on critical issues. Journalists and news outlets should look into both sides of a story when reporting. They should follow discipline in all aspects. More effort, dedication, and transparency are expected from local media in reporting the conflict and related issues.
International media outlets should be more careful about their reporting, especially regarding sensitive issues. A more transparent correction is also required if a mistake is made.
Social media activists, information pages, and bloggers should be careful about what they share. Especially when quoting another source, they have to make sure they use the right information and context.
Public figures, politicians, government authorities, and all parties should take conscious care in their speech, especially regarding sensitive issues. They need to use easy and understandable language and avoid ambiguity as much as possible.
HaqCheck is a local multilingual fact-checking project based in Ethiopia, formed inside Addis Zeybe’s newsroom, now Inform Africa’s Counter Disinformation Project – a board-led Civil Society Organization (CSO) – dedicated to verifying media contents from social to the mainstream. HaqCheck works in collaboration with media outlets to monitor media contents in English and four local languages (Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, and Somali).
This report is produced with the support of UNESCO under the #CoronavirusFacts: Addressing the ‘Disinfodemic’ on COVID-19 in conflict-prone Environments that the UNESCO Addis Ababa Office is implementing in Ethiopia with financial support from the European Union (EU). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or the EU concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO or The European Union and do not commit these organizations in any way.
Posts by Telegram channels, made in the name and branding of “Abay Bank”, “Commercial Bank of Ethiopia”, and Amhara Bank s.c, with over 7,733, 52,350, and 67,480 followers respectively, have been enormously circulating on telegram. All the posts have identical messages offering people attractive prizes on the condition that they join their channels and share the messages with a number of people.
HaqCheck has interrogated the contents of the posts and confirmed them to be Hoaxes.
The first Telegram Channel’s Amharic Post claiming to present a lucrative bid from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia begins with the statement, “Marking the 1.1 Trillion profit CBE achieved, the bank president Ato Abi Sano offers prizes aimed at motivating telegram channels. Thus, the first prize is a 300,00 Br three-wheeler vehicle to be awarded for 200 winners along with a package of housewares worth 50,000 Br each. . .”
In this way, the message tries to lure people by listing five different attractive prizes ranging from the first to the last offer of 5,000 Br for 100 people and a number of smartphone prizes. However, it reminds people to comply with its instructions in order to qualify for the prizes: joining the channel and inviting more than 50 people by following the shared link.
The Second Telegram channel’s Amharic post published as an official message of Abay Bank reads “Wishing the families of our channel a happy new year, our bank keeps its promises by presenting you a sharing and winning prize program on the occasion of the coming new year.”
Hence:1st prize is 500,000 birr for 50 winners and refrigerators each worth 40,000 Br … “. The post reads on presenting 6 hierarchical prizes ranging from the first grand prize to the last one offering 5,000 Br and other new year special gifts. Finally, this post also puts forward an instructive pre-condition to be followed so as to qualify for the prizes: joining the channel and sharing it to more than 50 accounts.
The Third Chanel’s post taking the name of Amhara Bank announces, “Amhara Bank has finalized its preparations to go operational in the coming Ethiopian new year, 2014. With the notion of retaining customers until it officially starts service, our bank is offering prizes for the new year. Thus; 1st prize is a 300,000 birr vehicle for 200 lucky people and housewares worth 50,000 Br each …” Similar to its previous counterparts, this message also provides a list of tempting prizes with the instruction of joining the channel and sharing the message.
In an effort to verify the Telegram posts, HaqCheck has talked to Dr. Letenah Ejigu Wale, a board member of Amhara Bank. said that the telegram posts are not real and are hoaxes. ”Our bank has no social Media pages and Channels. People should have to protect themselves from these kinds of social media scams,” he opines.
On the other hand, CBE announced its official Social media pages alerting its customers to protect themselves from fake pages on its official verified Facebook page, a month ago.
We have also looked into the Telegram channel address referenced on Abay bank’s and CBE’s official websites, substantiating no new year prizes are offered by the banks.
HaqCheck has finally assured that the posts circulating on the Telegram channels are a Hoax and have not been promoted by the Banks.
Posts by Telegram channels, made in the name and branding of “Abay Bank”, “Commercial Bank of Ethiopia”, and Amhara Bank s.c, with over 7,733, 52,350, and 67,480 followers respectively, have been enormously circulating on telegram. All the posts have identical messages offering people attractive prizes on the condition that they join their channels and share the messages with a number of people.
HaqCheck has interrogated the contents of the posts and confirmed them to be Hoaxes.
The first Telegram Channel’s Amharic Post claiming to present a lucrative bid from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia begins with the statement, “Marking the 1.1 Trillion profit CBE achieved, the bank president Ato Abi Sano offers prizes aimed at motivating telegram channels. Thus, the first prize is a 300,00 Br three-wheeler vehicle to be awarded for 200 winners along with a package of housewares worth 50,000 Br each. . .”
In this way, the message tries to lure people by listing five different attractive prizes ranging from the first to the last offer of 5,000 Br for 100 people and a number of smartphone prizes. However, it reminds people to comply with its instructions in order to qualify for the prizes: joining the channel and inviting more than 50 people by following the shared link.
The Second Telegram channel’s Amharic post published as an official message of Abay Bank reads “Wishing the families of our channel a happy new year, our bank keeps its promises by presenting you a sharing and winning prize program on the occasion of the coming new year.”
Hence:1st prize is 500,000 birr for 50 winners and refrigerators each worth 40,000 Br … “. The post reads on presenting 6 hierarchical prizes ranging from the first grand prize to the last one offering 5,000 Br and other new year special gifts. Finally, this post also puts forward an instructive pre-condition to be followed so as to qualify for the prizes: joining the channel and sharing it to more than 50 accounts.
The Third Chanel’s post taking the name of Amhara Bank announces, “Amhara Bank has finalized its preparations to go operational in the coming Ethiopian new year, 2014. With the notion of retaining customers until it officially starts service, our bank is offering prizes for the new year. Thus; 1st prize is a 300,000 birr vehicle for 200 lucky people and housewares worth 50,000 Br each …” Similar to its previous counterparts, this message also provides a list of tempting prizes with the instruction of joining the channel and sharing the message.
In an effort to verify the Telegram posts, HaqCheck has talked to Dr. Letenah Ejigu Wale, a board member of Amhara Bank. said that the telegram posts are not real and are hoaxes. ”Our bank has no social Media pages and Channels. People should have to protect themselves from these kinds of social media scams,” he opines.
On the other hand, CBE announced its official Social media pages alerting its customers to protect themselves from fake pages on its official verified Facebook page, a month ago.
We have also looked into the Telegram channel address referenced on Abay bank’s and CBE’s official websites, substantiating no new year prizes are offered by the banks.
HaqCheck has finally assured that the posts circulating on the Telegram channels are a Hoax and have not been promoted by the Banks.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ‘visit to North Korea’
HaqCheck fact-checked a claim that alleges Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed went to North Korea for a two-day working visit. The Facebook post that was made on August 25 2021 shared two images in a bid to support the claim. The post went viral and by the time of writing had been shared more than 877 times.
However, a reverse image search of the pictures by HaqCheck revealed that the images were first posted by the Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia, when PM Abiy Ahmed arrived in Seoul, South Korea, for a two-day state visit to meet with President Moon Jae exactly on the same day, two years ago, on Aug 25, 2019.
Despite the false claim that he is currently in South Korea, the Prime Minister was seen on national television welcoming Salva Kiir Mayardit, the President of the Republic of South Sudan, in Addis Ababa, on Aug 26, 2021. Moreover, there was no official announcement from the government regarding the Prime Minister’s travel to North Korea.
Therefore, HaqCheck rendered the Facebook post and the claim FALSE, for the images posted as a reference to the claim don’t show a North Korean visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister.
Drone shot down by TPLF forces
Another assertion that was fact-checked by HaqCheck during the fourth week of August 2021 was a Twitter post claiming that a drone belonging to the Ethiopian National Defense Forces had been shot down by TPLF forces during a recent engagement in the Amhara regional state.
The tweet reads “… the Tigray Defense Forces have shot down one of the drones used by the Ethiopian federal government in a battlefront in Amhara region….” and by the time this summary has been prepared it was retweeted and quote-tweeted more than 430 and 100 times respectively.
HaqCheck interrogated the authenticity of the two images in the tweet and confirmed that the pictures do not show an Ethiopian Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle, that is asserted by the post, to have been shot down by TPLF forces during a recent assault.
The first image was shared on October 20, 2020, for the first time and shows a destroyed Turkish Unmanned Aerial Vehicle shot down by the defense army of Artsakh (Republic of Nagorno Karabakh – an ethnic Arman-inhabited territory that declared independence from Azerbaijan). The picture was captured during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The second image in the tweet was first published on a website on July 16, 2020. The picture shows a shot down Armenian drone by Azerbaijani forces amid clashes that took place across the countries’ northern border area.
Therefore, HaqCheck rated the tweet FALSE as the images used to prove the claim are not authentic.
‘Genocidal rhetoric’ by Daniel Kibret
This week, a tweet posted on 25 August 2021 asserts that a recent speech by Daniel Kibret has a metaphorical message of genocidal intentions against the people of Tigray. It refers to a phrase in his statement that says “malignant tumor”. Daniel Kibret is an advisor to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. This tweet went viral and has been retweeted in the hundreds.
The cited phrase by Daniel Kibret comes from a speech he delivered, on August 17, at an artistic public speaking event entitled: “Ethiopia and External Pressure; Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” at the Ethiopian National Theatre.
Referring to the ongoing political chaos in Ethiopia, he said that there is a certain fatal disease that can only be cured through medical operation. He used the metaphor “tumor” to describe the disease which he stated has been growing in the country for the past 40 years.
He said “… the tumor must be removed through [medical] operation … although that is painful. They may have told us ‘you better live with the tumor’… but they will not suffer the pain of the tumor for us. Why don’t they just do it themselves … by living with a tumor (like Taliban, for instance)? We should get rid of the tumor and be relieved…”
Ethiopian Intelligence chief criticized foreign countries for ‘providing arms’ to TPLF
Addis Standard, a local news outlet, published an article of an English translation to a Facebook post by Temesgen Tiruneh, head of the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) on August 25, 2021. The article is published under the title “Intelligence Chief Vows to Eliminate TPLF, Followers of its I ideologies; Ramp Up Critic Against Foreign Countries”.
In the Facebook post, the intelligence chief criticized some foreign countries which consider themselves as “police of the world and teachers of democracy”, for supporting TPLF. However, The newspaper, Addis Standard, quoted Temesgen criticizing these countries for “providing arms”, which is not actually said in his Facebook post.
Later on, The Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA), released a disinformation alert saying “a very sensitive content that jeopardizes national security interest”, was added. Addis Standard then admitted the misquote and officially apologized for it.
The Ethiopian Media Authority published another press release reminding media outlets to be responsible during reporting.
Recommendations
HaqCheck urges media outlets to be responsible and cautious while reporting and quoting in consideration of the sensitive political atmosphere of the country.
Public figures, politicians, government authorities, and all parties should be careful of their speech, especially regarding sensitive issues. They should use easy and understandable language and avoid ambiguity as much as possible.
Government authorities and institutions should provide timely information and updates on ongoing matters. They should also allow open information access to the media and journalists, and to the general public.
On the other hand, social media users are recommended to refer to original sources of video clips or images that are embedded to support claims. They are also advised to undertake an online search if they were ever published before.
HaqCheck is a local multilingual fact-checking project based in Ethiopia, formed inside Addis Zeybe’s newsroom, now Inform Africa’s Counter Disinformation Project – a board-led Civil Society Organization (CSO) – dedicated to verifying media contents from social to the mainstream. HaqCheck works in collaboration with media outlets to monitor media contents in English and four local languages (Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, and Somali).
This report is produced with the support of UNESCO under the #CoronavirusFacts: Addressing the ‘Disinfodemic’ on COVID-19 in conflict-prone Environments that the UNESCO Addis Ababa Office is implementing in Ethiopia with financial support from the European Union (EU). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or the EU concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO or The European Union and do not commit these organizations in any way.
There was a tweet on August 26, 2021, showing two images claiming to show a shot-down military drone in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. The caption reads “… the Tigray Defense Forces (referring to TPLF forces) has shot down one of the drones used by the Ethiopian federal government in a battlefront in Amhara region….”
The tweet has been retweeted more than 375 times until the time this article is published. HaqCheck looked into the tweet and rated it as “FALSE.”
There has been an ongoing armed conflict between the Ethiopian federal government and theTigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces since November 2020. The war broke out after the federal government started a military offensive against TPLF forces accusing them of attacking a military base in Tigray. As the conflict persisted, Ethiopian military figures acknowledged the use of drones, hinting the air force is equipped with modern drones.
The fact being so, a reverse image search of the pictures shows that the images are not related to the current issue in the northern part of Ethiopia. The first image was shared on October 20, 2020. The picture, among others, shows a destroyed Turkish unmanned aerial vehicle by the defense army of Artsakh. The picture was believed to be taken during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
The second image was first shared on July 16, 2020. The picture shows a shot down Armenian drone by Azerbaijani forces amid clashes across the countries’ northern border area.
In this regard, HaqCheck assessed the tweet and confirmed that the images do not show an Ethiopian government drone shot down by TPLF forces, rendering it FALSE.
A Facebook page with over 106,878 followers posted photos on August 25 2021 in Amharic text saying, “Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed goes to North Korea for two days of working visit”.
The post has been shared more than 730 times up until this article is published. HaqCheck looked into the post and has rated it as FALSE.
A week ago, on Aug 18 2021 PM Abiy Ahmed and his delegation travelled to Turkey for a one-day working visit, meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It could be learned that they discussed bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest and concluded military agreements.
HaqCheck looked into the images posted by the page. A reverse image search of the picture shows that the image was first posted by the Office of the Prime Minister – Ethiopia, when PM Abiy Ahmed arrived in Seoul, South Korea for a two day state visit to meet with President Moon Jae exactly on this day, 2 years ago, on Aug 25, 2019.
Image: the images were taken when PM Abiy Ahmed visit South Korea on 2019
To the contrary, Prime Minister Abiy welcomed Salva Kiir Mayardit, the President of the Republic of South Sudan in Addis Ababa, on Aug 26, 2021.
Until the time this article is published there is no official announcement from the government regarding the prime minister’s travel to North Korea.
HaqCheck has attested that the image doesn’t show a North Korean visit of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, rendering the post FALSE,attributed to the inaccuracy of the image.
Controversy over the capture of military equipment in Gashena
Social media platforms, largely Facebook and Twitter, were last week deluged with images and video clips over claims military equipment had been captured.
Both sides in the Tigray conflict claimed their side had seized military armaments. State-affiliated news outlets such as the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporate (EBC) and Fana Broadcasting Corporate (FBC) shared the images claiming that heavy military hardware had been taken from the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front)-forces. It was also reported that the group had suffered heavy human and material losses around Gashena, in Amhara regional state.
It was reported that an attack was mounted on the TPLF forces making the group retreat to North Wollo Zone areas – Estayish, Ahuntegegn, Gashena, Gergera, and Filakit towns. According to the reports, the group was transporting the items, looted from government properties, non-governmental organizations, and from the public, in that area.
However, it was also claimed that the Amhara Special Force and militias, in collaboration with farmers, had attacked the TPLF-forces. The looted property had been abandoned as TPLF forces fled to a nearby town called Ase.
On the other hand, other posts were also circulating at the same time. The posts claimed that the vehicles in the image were captured from the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and aligned forces in Gashena.
A day after the news first broke, allegations arose from TPLF activists saying EBC and FBC were circulating disinformation. As a counterclaim, a video clip was released by TPLF activists and media, which seemed to be recorded by TPLF troops, showing the exact view as the images used before.
HaqCheck was not able to verify the images and clips but believes these controversies fuel information disorder in the media sphere.
High-ranking officials ‘flee’ the country
Viral claims emerged last week alleging that high-ranking federal and regional government officials including diplomats and Prosperity Party-affiliated persons had fled the country. The posts and tweets claimed that the former Amhara regional president and current National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) directorTemesgen Tiruneh filled the country to Germany on the morning of 18 August 2021.
However, images posted on the same day the original claims were published showing Temesgen Tiruneh alongside Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (Ph.D.) during a one-day working visit to Ankara, Turkey. According to the images, the NISS director went to Turkey with the PM and other government officials on August 18, 2021.
Turkish President’s offer to mediate an end to the Tigray conflict
HaqCheck investigated a Facebook post by the Al Jazeera English Facebook page made on August 19, 2021, and debunked it as misleading. Al Jazeera English, on its Facebook page, shared an article titled ‘Erdogan offers to mediate an end to Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict’.
HaqCheck looked into the title and content of the article on the website and confirmed that the article does not say that the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan did offer to mediate an end to Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict. The titles and content shared on Facebook and on the article on the website have false connections. Therefore, HaqCheck rated the Facebook post as MISLEADING HEADLINE due to the false connection between the post on Facebook and the article on the website.
Flash flood in Addis Ababa
Another social media post that was fact-checked by HaqCheck was a claim which reported that flash floods had killed seven people in Addis Ababa. HaqCheck looked into the images shared in the Facebook post and confirmed that while the information is true, one of the two images used in the post is false and rated the post as PARTLY FALSE.
The false image shared along the post was taken from a report showing rescue workers in Haiti, searching for missing people, due to a recent earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people.
Recommendations
HaqCheck urges the public and social media users to look for information from credible and original sources, official statements, updates, and clarifications from authorities regarding current issues, controversial matters, and social media claims.
The general public should be provided with sufficient information and updates regarding ongoing issues in the country and media organizations and concerned authorities have to do so. More effort, dedication, and transparency are expected from local media in reporting the conflict and related issues.
International media should be more careful about their reporting, especially regarding sensitive issues. A more transparent correction is also required if a mistake is made.
Social media activists, pages, and bloggers should be careful about what they share. Especially when quoting another source, they have to make sure they use the right information and context.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————
HaqCheck is a local multilingual fact-checking project based in Ethiopia, formed inside Addis Zeybe’s newsroom, now Inform Africa’s Counter Disinformation Project – a board-led Civil Society Organization (CSO) – dedicated to verifying media contents from social to the mainstream. HaqCheck works in collaboration with media outlets to monitor media contents in English and four local languages (Amharic, Afaan Oromo, Tigrigna, and Somali).
This report is produced with the support of UNESCO under the #CoronavirusFacts: Addressing the ‘Disinfodemic’ on COVID-19 in conflict-prone Environments that the UNESCO Addis Ababa Office is implementing in Ethiopia with financial support from the European Union (EU). The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO or the EU concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNESCO or The European Union and do not commit these organizations in any way.
However, HaqCheck has assessed the images and the post and rated it as PARTLY FALSE.
The Ethiopian National Meteorology Agency has been warning that heavy rain, thunderstorms, and floods are likely to occur in the summer. The agency stated western Oromia and Amhara regions, half of western Benishangul Gumuz, Eastern and Northern Shoa, are most likely to be affected in the country.
There was a flood in Addis Ababa on August 17 due to heavy rain. The areas that were affected the most were Adey Ababa, Asko – Weyra Sefer, Torhayloch – Augusto, and mainly German Square – Mekane Eyesus Seminary. Up until the night of August 19, nine bodies had been found according to the Addis Ababa Fire and Emergency Prevention and Rescue Commission, up. Other survivors were taken to the hospital.
However, HaqCheck looked into the Facebook post, claiming to show the flood in Addis Ababa, and found that the second image does not show the incident. The first image can be found in the original post. However, the second image was taken from a report showing rescue workers in Haiti, searching for missing people, due to the earthquake. The image was also used in another news report by FBC reporting about Haiti.
Despite the flood in Addis Ababa, HaqCheck has confirmed that the image, that was used in the Facebook post is not related to the incident, rating it as PARTLY FALSE.
