A tweet emerged on Mar 13, 2022, sharing an image to support a claim that houses were being burnt recently in Wollo. It claimed the houses were set on fire by ‘Amhara militants’ and belong to Oromos living in the Dawa district of Wollo.
However, HaqCheck fact-checked the image embedded in the tweet and confirmed the image is old and doesn't show recently burnt houses in Wollo.
There is a special Oromo Zone within the Amhara regional state that is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Oromo communities. The zone and surrounding areas of the Amhara regional state are characterized by recurrent conflict.
A year ago a conflict occurred in the Oromo Special Zone and the adjacent North Shoa Zone and many people were killed and properties including houses destroyed.
In this context, the claim that ‘Amhara militants’ recently burnt houses belonging to Oromos in Wollo appeared.
The tweet shared an image in a bid to support the claim. The image shared along with the tweet shows houses set on fire.
However, the image is not of a recent incident and was taken from a publication made a year and a few months ago. The image appeared on Dec 23, 2020, along with a report article regarding a ‘massacre in the Benishangul Gumuz regional state’.
Therefore, HaqCheck confirmed that the image does not prove the claim and rated it FALSE.
