A viral video was shared on Twitter on Sep 13, 2022, claiming that the footage shows Ethiopian prisoners of war surrendered to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces during the recently resumed fighting.
The video was shared close to six hundred times on Twitter and was watched by over 37 thousand users on the same platform.
However, the video is learned to be old and doesn’t show Ethiopian POWs captured by TPLF forces during the recently resumed fighting.
Fighting between the Ethiopian government and TPLF forces resumed after a cessation of hostilities was declared on Mar 24, 2022.
On Aug 16, 2022, the TPLF said that the federal government already violated the cessation of hostilities jointly declared at the end of March. The TPLF claimed that the armed forces of the federal government attacked its forces with artillery and tanks.
The TPLF forces stated on Aug 24, 2022, that the federal government had launched attacks against its armed forces in the southern Tigray areas. It further announced that the primary intention of the attacks by the federal government was to launch integrated attacks on the western front.
On Sep 13, 2022, the TPLF claimed that it destroyed many divisions of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) and the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) that tried to advance into territories currently held by TPLF forces.
Amid this situation, a claim backed by a video appeared on Twitter that the video shows Ethiopian prisoners of war captured by TPLF forces in the resumed fighting.
However, the video is confirmed not to show Ethiopian prisoners of war during the recently resumed fighting between the federal government and the TPLF forces.
The video was published on Facebook by the Voice of America Amharic on May 19, 2022, in a news report stating that TPLF announced to release of 4208 POWs belonging to the ENDF.
Therefore, HaqCheck rated the Twitter post False due to the usage of inaccurate video to support the claim.
