Claim: An X account shared a video with the caption “Breaking: Fano/Amhara forces captured 100+ ENDF Oromo soldiers after several days of fighting.”

Verdict: False.

On June 5, 2024, an X account named Amhara News Service, with over 14,200 followers, shared a video with the caption “Breaking; Fano/Amhara forces captured 100+ ENDF Oromo soldiers after several days of fighting.” The post was retweeted over 190 times and received more than 31,000 views. The tweet garnered over 170 reposts, over 478 likes, and more than 33,000 views by the time this article was published.

However, the footage is actually from the “Northern Ethiopia war” (the war in Tigray ), which erupted on November 3, 2020, between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The war ended on November 2, 2022, when a peace agreement, commonly called the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA) was signed by both parties in Pretoria, South Africa.

MFC examined the video using reverse image search tools. However, due to the low quality of the video, finding its source through reverse image search proved difficult.

To further investigate, we searched YouTube using the Amharic keyword “የተማረኩ” (Captured). This led us to a video clip containing the same footage as the one shared on X.

The video was shared on a YouTube channel named Marda Times on Sep 25, 2022. 

Based on this information, the post shared by the X account claiming that the video shows 100+ ENDF (Ethiopian National Defense Force) soldiers captured by Fano is false.

Context

The conflict in the Amhara region, which began in April 2023, is part of a broader pattern of instability and violence in Ethiopia. The conflict was triggered by the Ethiopian military’s raid on the Amhara region to disarm regional forces and the Fano militiamen. This action sparked resistance and clashes with the Fano militiamen, who claimed to capture towns in the region forcing the federal government to take further military action. The situation remains tense, leading to death of civilians, causing significant damage to properties, and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. This post, which falsely claims to show footage of a conflict in the Amhara region, is part of a larger trend of misinformation and disinformation circulating online in relation to the ongoing conflict in Ethiopia.

The post Shared Video Misrepresents the Conflict in the Amhara Region appeared first on MultiFactCheck.

Claim: A Twitter account shared an image claiming to be a screenshot from The Economist website, titled “Ethiopia’s restless prime minister is modernizing Addis Ababa too fast.” 

Verdict: False. The image is a manipulated photoshop creation.

An X account with 6,900 followers named CHERBOLE shared an image on April 27, 2024 with an Amharic caption that translates to “[t]hat’s it. Abiy Ahmed Ali (the prime minister of the FDRE) has impressed the world this much.” This post has received more than 20,000 views and has been shared more than 78 times as of the publication of this article.

However, the image used by the account is a photoshop creation.

The image in question contains a photo of demolished houses with a title of “Ethiopia’s restless prime minister is modernizing Addis Ababa too fast.” The subtitle reads “Abiy Ahmed is making the city is too clean for Africa”.

MFC used three methodologies to verify the claim: observation, use of tools, and communication with the media/journalist of The Economist.

Observation

MFC first searched the title in The Economist website but found no matching article. 

We then reviewed recent articles written about Ethiopia and found an article titled “The historic heart of Addis Ababa is being demolished: Abiy Ahmed is imposing his vision on Ethiopia’s capital” (see screenshot below).

The claim carried the same cover photo, date of publication, image, and image credit as with the above original one.

When we examined the image shared by the X account, we also noticed a grammatical issue in the subtitle, which is unlikely for such a large international media outlet to make such an error (see screenshot below).

Tool

MFC also used the Fake Image Detector tool to check if the image had been modified. The tool returned the result: “Looks like Computer Generated or Modified image.”

Communication

MFC contacted a correspondent journalist at The Economist, who confirmed that there is no article with the title “Ethiopia’s restless prime minister is modernizing Addis Ababa too fast”.

Based on the gathered evidence, MFC confirmed that the image shared by the X account claiming that The Economist wrote an article with the title “Ethiopia’s restless prime minister is modernizing Addis Ababa too fast” is false.

Context

The Ethiopian government, through the Addis Ababa City Administration, has been demolishing buildings in the Piassa area as part of the Addis Ababa Corridor Development Project. The government says the project aims to modernize the city and achieve international smart city standards. However, critics argue that the demolitions are destroying historical heritage. This tweet was circulated in this context.

The post The Economist Didn’t Publish an Article on PM Abiy Ahmed “Modernizing Addis Ababa Too Fast”  appeared first on MultiFactCheck.