On Dec 10, 2022, a Facebook page, followed by more than sixty-four thousand users shared an image-backed post claiming that the Oromia regional government was detaining ethnic Amharas in Wollega, Oromia. It added that the people were detained because they clashed with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an armed group addressed by the government as Shane.
The post was virally circulated on the same platform and was shared over thirty times.
However, HaqCheck confirmed that the image doesn’t prove the claim that the Oromia Special Police Force recently detained ethnic Amharas in Wollega. Therefore, 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.
Amid the latest conflict in Wollega, over thirty thousand people including ethnic Amharas were displaced.
It was against this backdrop the Facebook post emerged sharing an image with a claim that Oromia regional authorities recently detained Amhara civilians in Wollega.
However, HaqCheck confirmed that the image doesn’t show ethnic Amharas recently detained by Oromia regional authority in Wollega.
The image was first published on Apr 24, 2020, by the BBC Afaan Oromo and the picture shows Oromia Special Police Force officers detaining Abdo Abba Jobir, a teacher in the Jimma zone.Therefore, HaqCheck rendered the post False.