February 22, 2022

False: The pictures don’t show recent TPLF POWs in Afar Region

HAQCHECK

HaqCheck looked into the pictures that are used to support the claim and rated them False.

Avatar: Saba Habtu
By Saba Habtu

Saba is a junior fact-checker at HaqCheck.

False: The pictures don’t show recent TPLF POWs in Afar Region

Facebook page with more than 60,000 followers posted four images claiming to show TPLF POWs captured recently in the war between the Afar region and TPLF. It stated that they were captured in a fight trying to control Serdo, a place in Afar. 

But, HaqCheck looked into the pictures that are used to support the claim and rated them False.

It has been more than a year since a war between The Federal government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front( TPLF) broke out. Following the departure of the Federal government from Mekelle, TPLF started to advance southwards to the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions.

A fresh counteroffensive led by PM Abiy Ahmed from the frontlines was launched and freed areas that were under TPLF’s control. Marking the end of the operation led by the Prime Minister,  the government announced that its forces won’t advance further to Tigray and will be positioned at the borders.

However, TPLF accused the federal government and its allies of trying to get into the Tigray region. President of the Afar region, Awel Arba also accused TPLF of opening a fresh offensive on Afar. and reports show that fighting between TPLF and Afar region continued. 

In relation to this situation were the images posted on Facebook claiming to show POWs of TPLF in the Afar region.

HaqCheck looked into the images used to support the claim and found out that two of them were posted on Dec 01, 2021, with a claim that they were TPLF POWs captured by the army led by P.M Abiy Ahmed and 3 pictures were posted on Dec 02, 2021, with a claim that they were Tigrayans who were arrested by the federal government. 

Therefore HaqCheck rated it the claim False.