The Facebook post, archived here, has been 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.
The picture attached in the post shows a bulk of ammunition. Written in Amharic, the caption reported that Afar troops seized firearms from Tigrayan forces in the recent front.
“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, even though the image shows ammunition, it is old and unrelated to the recent conflict in northern Ethiopia, and HaqCheck found it to be FALSE.
War in Ethiopia erupted in November 2020 when Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels reportedly attacked a military command of Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. It has affected three countries (Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan) on different scales and has impacted three Regions of Ethiopia; Tigray, Amhara, and Afar.
In recent developments, the government announced its intention to start a new national dialogue to pave the way for national consensus and keep the integrity of the country. In a bid for national dialogue, Ethiopian authorities pardoned a number of high-profile political prisoners, including a prominent figure of TPLF. Recently, Afar regional state accused Tigrayan forces of continuing an intensified offensive in Afar.
HaqCheck inspected the images’ accuracy and Google reverse image search results show that the picture had been used in multiple online stories since 2014.
Moreover, HaqCheck has confirmed that the picture shows weapons recovered by African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in August 2014.
Therefore, HaqCheck rated it FALSE.
