A Facebook page with 96 thousand followers posted an image on Sep 9, 2022, claiming that Amhara militants were captured in the ongoing war in the western Tigray region, Dedebit. The post was shared ten times.
However; HaqCheck confirmed that the image doesn’t show recent prisoners of war in the ongoing war. This image was posted several months ago on Oct 16, 2021.
After months of tension, the federal government of Ethiopia and TPLF went to war on Nov 3, 2020.
The federal government allied with other regional government forces removed TPLf from Mekelle and other major Tigay region towns after three weeks of conventional war.
However, the conflict became protracted since TPLF proceeded with guerrilla warfare.
After months, the federal government together with the temporary administration of Tigray declared a humanitarian ceasefire and withdrew its forces from most Tigray region towns
Immediately, TPLF forces controlled Tigray’s capital city Mekelle and most parts of Tigray.
The conflict didn’t stop as TPLF advanced its forces towards some adjacent areas of the Amhara and Afar region. TPLF reached and controlled major Amhara towns, which are very close to Addis Ababa.
As the Ethiopian military and other allied regional forces launched a counterattack against TPLF, the federal government regained the captured areas of the Amhara and Afar regions by TPLF.
On March 24, 2022, the Ethiopian government declared a cessation of hostility with TPLF. Soon TPLF also accepted the declaration.
Peace talks had been on the way by a third-party mediator. The African Union nominated its Horn of Africa special envoy, Olusegun Obasanjo to facilitate the peace talks. Obasanjo was a former Nigerian president. He went back and forth to bring peace between the two parties.
However, TPLF announced that it doesn’t have confidence in Obasanjo and questioned his competence and impartiality to facilitate the peace talk.
On Aug 16, 2022, TPLF announced that the federal government already violated the cessation of hostilities jointly declared at the end of March. The TPLF said that the armed forces of the federal government fired artillery and attacked its forces.
It further announced that the main intention of the attacks by the federal government was to launch an integrated attack on the western front. On the other hand, the Ethiopian government announced that the TPLF started the war.
It is at this time that the Facebook page posted an image claiming that Amhara militants have been captured in the western Tigray region during the ongoing war.
However, Haqcheck looked into the image and confirmed that the image doesn’t prove the claim.
The image was first posted several months ago on Oct 16, 2021, along with an article regarding the ongoing war in Ethiopia.
Thus, HaqCheck rendered the post False due to its use of an inaccurate image to support the claim.
