On Jan 22, 2023, a Facebook page with close to one hundred thousand followers posted an image claiming that Oromo Liberation Army militants opened a sudden attack on a camp and killed more than 20 police officers during an ongoing conflict in Jewha town, Amhara regional state.
The post was viral and was shared close to forty times on Facebook.
However, HaqCheck investigated the image and confirmed that the image used to support the claim is old. Therefore, the post was rated False.
Ethiopia has been experiencing recurrent conflict, particularly in recent years. The armed conflict between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was settled in a peace agreement signed at the beginning of November last year.
The Ethiopian government has been fighting insurgency with the Oromo Liberation Army, which is addressed by the government as Shene.
Mass killings and displacement occurred amid the insurgency. The belligerents have been accusing each other of targeting civilians.
There have been intercommunal conflicts and violence in Oromia and Amhara regions. The Wollega zones in Oromia and the North Shewa and Oromo Special zones in Amhara were rage by recurrent conflicts.
Conflict broke out in the Oromo Special Zone in October 2019 in which three people were killed.
In March and April 2021, over three hundred thousand people were displaced in a conflict in the troubled zone. A year later, violence ensued and more than a dozen people were reported killed.
Social media and news reports this week indicate that conflict erupted in the North Shewa and Oromo Special zones and in the towns of Ataye and Jewha in particular.
Against this backdrop, a Facebook post emerged claiming that Oromo Liberation Army militants launched a sudden attack on a camp and killed more than 20 police officers during an ongoing conflict in the town of Jewha, Amhara regional state.
However, HaqCheck investigated the image and confirmed that the image used to support the claim was old. The picture doesn’t prove the claim.
The image was originally published on a website on March 20, 2021, along with a short news story.
Therefore, HaqCheck rated the post False due to its usage of an inaccurate image.
