False: The image doesn’t show Odaa Bus transporting Fano militants.

On Dec 21, 2022, a Facebook page that has more than six thousand followers shared a picture claiming that the Odaa bus was transporting fano militants [to battlefronts in Oromia]. The post sharing a picture that shows a burning bus alleged that the company, Odaa should admit it transported fano militias and apologize to the Oromo people.

However, HaqCheck investigated the claim and confirmed that the image doesn’t prove the claim that Odaa Bus was transporting fano militants. Thus, the post was rated False.

Reports indicate that the Ethiopian government has been fighting with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an armed organization known by the government as Shene. A war between the belligerents is raging in the Oromia regional state.

Civilians were reported to have been victims of the ongoing armed conflict. Hundreds of people were killed and injured in the Oromia regional state, particularly Wollega.

The government blamed the killings on the OLF-Shene, while the armed group accused the government of targeting and killing civilians.

Addis Standard, a local news outlet, reported that eyewitnesses told it that Amhara regional militia (Fano) killed dozens of civilians in the Kiremu district of the East Wollega zone on November 25 and 29.

It was against this background the claim that the Odaa Bus was transporting fano militants to Oromia emerged on Facebook. The post indirectly implied that the bus shown burning on the picture belong to the Odaa Bus was set on fire in Oromia because the company transported fano militias.

Odaa Bus is a transport company registered under the name of ODAA Integrated Transport Share Company and owned by thousands of stakeholders including public enterprises. The company mainly operates in the Oromia regional state.

HaqCheck looked into the image to verify whether the picture was the claim or not. However, the image doesn’t support the claim that Odaa Bus was transporting fano militias to the Oromia region.

The image that accompanied the post was taken from an old publication. The picture was first posted on Facebook on Feb 18, 2022.

The original description attached to the image alleges that the bus shown was caught on fire and burnt due to an engine failure while on the way from Addis Ababa to Desse. Accordingly, the incident happened in a place called Dhumuga, in Oromo Special zone of Amhara region.

Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post False due to its usage of an inaccurate image to support the claim.