By Rehobot Ayalew
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Claims: A social media account with close to 20K followers claimed that the Fano Militiamen confiscated weapons and surrendered Ethiopian soldiers
Verdict: MFC found the claim to be False
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On February 26, 2024, a post surfaced on X (formerly Twitter) from an account named “Central Command of Amhara Fano- official page!” — with over 19,000 followers — claiming that the Fano militiamen seized weapons from the Ethiopian army and captured its soldiers.
The post, written in Amharic, purports to deliver a “Breaking News,” which reads: “We carried out a surprise attack that shocked Abiy and his Oromummaa Generals in Shewa Menz and Jiru [woreda of the Amahra Regional State].” The post adds stating, “We captured 1 ZU-23, 2 Mortars, 9 DShK, 12 Bren and 12 snipers along with many soldiers. Victory to Fano”. By the time this article was written the post had views of over 18,000 and more than 200 reposts (see below screenshot).
Image1: A screenshot of a Twitter account that claimed the Fano militiamen seized weapons from the Ethiopian government
However MultiFactCheck (MFC) has confirmed that the images used to support the claim are old and have been shared previously on different social media platforms.
A Reverse Image Search results of the picture at the left and top-right, which shows weapons and ammunition, indicated that both images were posted on the Facebook page that claimed to be of the Amhara Region Police Commission on February 7, 2024 (see below screenshot). The headline of the post reads: “Illegal firearms originating from Messebo Cement Factory in Mekelle, were seized in Woldia city.”
Image2: A screenshot of a claimed to be of the Amhara Police Commission that stated an illegal firearms from Tigray Region was caught in Amhara Region
Another Reverse Image Search for the picture at the bottom-right, which shows men in what seems to be a military uniform, found that the image was taken from a TikTok video on September 10, 2023, from an account named Amhara Wisdom (see below screenshot).
Image3: A Screenshot captured from the TikTok video
MFC examined the post and confirmed that the images don’t support the claim that Fano has seized weapons and soldiers. Therefore the post is rated False.
Since April 2023, a deadly armed conflict has been ongoing in Amhara, Ethiopia’s second most populous Regional State, between the Ethiopian Defense Forces (ENDF) and the Fano militiamen. The conflict erupted following the federal government’s decision to dissolve all regional security forces it armed, including Fano — a move that was not to the liking of the militiamen. The above mentioned post was, thus, shared in this context.
