Claim: A social media influencer with the name Gumaa Saqqataa Gem claimed that General Kassaye Chemeda, former member of the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), has been included into the National Dialogue Commission (NDC). The post claimed that the inclusion of General Kassaye shows a “disrespect to the people”.  

Verdict: Misleading 

A Facebook account by the name Gumaa Saqqataa Gem, which has over 109,281 followers, posted a content claiming that General Kassaye Chemeda, a former ENDF member whose face is circled in the picture with yellow colour, was among the Commissioners of the Ethiopian National Dialogue Commission (NDC). The content was published along with a picture of the NDC Commissioners and other high officials and the claim received over 1200 likes, over 224 comments, and over 104 shares. Similar claims were also posted on Tigray Tribune and Tigray Today/ትግራይ ቱደይ, pages that have hundreds of thousands of followers. 

The claim from Gumaa Saqqataa Gem reads: Nothing is disrespectful than including Kassaye Chemeda into the National Dialogue Commission, who supported ENDF over the War in Tigray asserting “crack them down, smash them down”.

However, after assessing the information provided on the Website of NDC and speaking to one of the Commissioners on a phone call, the MFC found that Chemeda is not among the Commissioners.

Thus, looking into the list of the Commissioners and confirming via phone call, MFC established that the claimed person is neither among the Commissioners of the National Dialogue Commission nor part of its staff members.

The supposed photo of the claim was found to be taken during the launching of the agenda setting event of the NDC in Addis Ababa and Chemeda was among the participants representing parts of the community of the city dwellers.

Therefore, MFC renders that both the text and the picture of the claim were taken out of context and found to be misleading.

Context 

The Ethiopian National Dialogue (END) was established in December 2021 with an autonomous stance as part of Ethiopia’s peace initiatives. It has aimed at bringing major controversial national issues to the dialogue table, which have been at the core of dispute and conflict in the country. Right from its establishment, the NDC has been criticized for its lack of transparency, including the process of selecting the Commissioners. Thus, over 11 opposition parties, including the two major Oromo oppositions – the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) – have boycotted participating in the dialogue. 

Regardless of the lack of public trust and amidst the conflict in the Amhara and Oromia regional states, where armed insurgencies have been tense, the NDC continued its work. Although it lagged behind its schedule on the selection of representatives from parts of the community, it has now officially reached the phase of agenda setting. It was on the launching of this agenda setting event that General Kassaye Chemeda was seen. Chemeda is known for his strong critique against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and he was active supporter of Abiy’s war campaign against TPLF in Tigray.

The post Is the Former Ethiopian Military General Serving on the National Dialogue Commission?  appeared first on MultiFactCheck.

Claim: A Facebook account shared a video of a damaged papaya farm in Tigray regional state of Ethiopia, claiming that the destruction was caused by “Shabiya” – a reference often used for a ruling party in Eritrea. 

Verdict: False. The video is not from Tigray.

On June 1, 2024, a Facebook account named “Habesha Habesha” shared a video that shows a damaged papaya farm with the caption: “This is what ‘Shabiya’ [the ruling party in Eritrea] did in Tigray.” The video garnered more than 970 reactions, over 1,000 shares, and over 330,000 views until this article is published. 

However, the video is not from Tigray.

MFC examined the video using Fake News Debunker by InVID & We Verify to detect the authenticity of the claim InVID provided keyframes from the video, which MFC then checked through Google Reverse Image Search.

Image: Screenshot taken from InVID Keyframs

The results showed that the video is circulating on social media with a Hindi caption claiming that “The storm destroyed 99% of the papaya crop” in India. 

Therefore, the video is actually from Tamil Nadu, a State in South India.

TIMES NOW, an English media outlet in India, and News18 India have reported that on May 29, 2024, thousands of papaya trees were damaged due to strong winds in Tamil Nadu, a state in the extreme south of India. The report further stated that the Tamil Nadu experienced heavy rainfall in recent days.

Image: Screenshot taken from News18 India Facebook page

Image: Screenshot taken from TIMES NOW Facebook page

Based on this information, MFC confirms that the video shared by the Facebook account claiming that the video shows the destruction of papaya farm caused by “Shabiya” in Tigray is false.

Context

In November 2020, fighting broke out between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a regional political party in Tigray, a region located north of Ethiopia bordering with Eritrea. Reports shows that the Eritrean forces entered the conflict supporting the Ethiopian government.

Eritrean forces (aka Shabiya) were accused of committing atrocities against civilians in Tigray, including extrajudicial killings, rape, and torture. The involvement of Eritrean forces in the conflict reportingly further complicated the situation and made it more difficult to resolve.

A ceasefire was declared in March 2022, but the conflict has not been fully resolved. Eritrean forces remain in Tigray, and there are ongoing reports of human rights abuses.

Thus, the post claiming that the Eritrean forces destroyed the papaya farm in Tigray circulates in this context. 

The post Video of Damaged Papaya Farm is Not in Tigray appeared first on MultiFactCheck.

የተጠቀሰው መረጃ፦ በማስተር አብነት ስም የተከፈቱ የቴሌግራም ግሩፖች ሽልማት እየሰጡ እንደሆነ የሚገልጽ መረጃ አሰራጭተዋል።

ብያኔ፦ ነገር ግን የቴሌግራም ግሩፖቹ ተመሳስለው የተከፈቱ መሆናቸው የተረጋገጠ ሲሆን ያቀረቡት የሽልማት አይነት እና መጠን ሐሰት ነው።

ከ 138 ሺ በላይ አባላት ያሉት “Master Abinet Kebede” የተባለ የቴሌግራም ግሩፕ ግንቦት 13 ቀን 2016 ዓ/ም “…50 ሰዎች አድ ላደረገ 5ሺህ ብር እንልካለን” የሚል መረጃ አጋርቷል።

ይሄው የቴሌግራም ግሩፕ በተመሳሳይ ቀን “ዮሴፍ በቀለ የተባለ ግለሰብ ሽልማቱን በፍጥነት ተቀብሏል ሌሎቻችሁም ፍጠኑ…” የሚል የላኪው ማንነት እንዳይታይ የተሸፈነ የንግድ ባንክ የሞባይል ባንኪንግ የገንዘብ ዝውውርን የሚያሳይ ምስል ለጥፏል።

MFC ባካሄደው የዳሰሳ ጥናት መሰረት በማህበራዊ ሚዲያ ላይ በበጎ ስራዎቹ በሚታወቀው ማስተር አብነት ስም የተከፈቱ ከ 15 በላይ የቴሌግራም ግሩፖችን አግኝቷል። በተመሳሳይ እነዚህ ግሩፖች የቴሌግራም ተጠቃሚዎች ወደ ግሩፑ ሰዎችን አባል ሲያደርጉ ከፍተኛ መጠን ያለው ሽልማት እንደሚያገኙ የሚገልጹ አጓጊ ልጥፎችን የያዙ ናቸው።

ከMFC የቴሌግራም ግሩፖቹን በተመለከተ ጥያቄ የቀረበለት ማስተር አብነት ከቲክቶክ ፣ ፌስቡክ እና የዩቲውብ ቻናል ውጪ ምንም አይነት የቴሌግራም ግሩፕ እንደሌለው ገልጿል።

በተጨማሪ MFC ባደረገው ማጣራት “Master Abenet Kebede”  የተባለው የቴሌግራም ግሩፑ የካቲት 23 እና 24 2015 ዓ/ም ስያሜውን ወደ “Safaricom ሳፋሪኮም”  በመለወጥ ተመሳሳይ ተግባር ፈጽሟል።

ቲክቶክ ላይ ከ2.6 ሚሊየን በላይ ፣ ፌስቡክ ላይ 704ሺ ተከታዮች እንዲሁም ዩቲውብ ላይ ከ172ሺ በላይ ሰብስክራይበሮች ባሉት እና በበጎ አድራጎት ስራዎቹ በሚታወቀው ማስተር አብነት ስም ተመሳስለው የተከፈቱት እነዚህ የቴሌግራም ግሩፖች የተለያዩ ሽልማቶችን መስጠታቸውን ለመግለጽ የገንዘብ ዝውውር የተደረገበት በሚል የተቀናበሩ የንግድ ባንክ የሞባይል ባንኪንግ ገንዘብ ዝውውር መግለጫ ምስሎችን እንደሚጠቀሙ MFC አረጋግጧል።

ከታች በምስሉ ላይ እንደሚታየው ትክክለኛው የንግድ ባንክ የሞባይል ባንኪንግ ገንዘብ ዝውውር መግለጫ የጽሁፍ ፎንት እና በቴሌግራም ግሩፑ ለሽልማት የተከፈለ በሚል የቀረበው የገንዘብ ዝውውር መግለጫ ተመሳሳይ አይደለም።

በመሆኑም ከ130 ሺ በላይ አባላት ያሉትን ጨምሮ በማስተር አብነት ስም የተከፈቱት የቴሌግራም ግሩፖች በየማስተር አብነት ከበደ  አለመሆናቸውን MFC አረጋግጧል።

MFC ከዚህ ቀደም የታዋቂ ሰዎችን ማንነት በማስመሰል የቴሌግራም ግሩፖችን በመክፈት ይጠቀም የነበረ ማንነቱ እንዳይገለጽ የጠየቀ ግለሰብን በጉዳዩ ላይ ያነጋገረ ሲሆን ግሩፖቹ በዋነኛነት ለሁለት አላማ እንደሚውሉ ተናግሯል።

የመጀመሪያው የግሩፑ አባላት ቁጥር ሲያድግ ለሽያጭ ማቅረብ ሲሆን ሁለተኛው የቴሌግራም ግሩፑ በታዋቂው ሰው ማንነት የአባላት ቁጥሩ እንዲያድግ ከተደረገ በኋላ ስያሜውን በመቀየር የተለያዩ እቃዎችን መሸጫ እንደሚሆንም ገልጾልናል።

The post ማህበራዊ ሚዲያ ላይ የበጎ አድራጎት ስራ በመስራት የሚታወቀው ማስተር አብነት ሽልማት እየሰጠ ነው? appeared first on MultiFactCheck.