Almost two years now, at least 2 million are facing starvation and others are fleeing the Tigray region because of war. Amidst all this is a recent image shared on Facebook, claiming to show refugees from Tigray crossing over to Amhara regional.
Background
Tigray, the northern part of Ethiopia, is the country’s National Regional State. For two years now, the country has been in a state of war, especially in the Tigray region. This war, just like most experienced, goes back in time. In November 2020, CNN says, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Mohammed ordered a military offensive in the northern Tigray region.” He promised that “the conflict will be resolved quickly.”
The United Nations refugee agency says, there are over 500,000 Ethiopian refugees in Benishangul Gumuz region which borders Sudan and Southern Sudan. Evidently, the war in Tigray has spread through the country. It adds, fighting broke out in Tongo refugees camp in the country. This led to destruction of the camp that shelters over 10,300 refugees.
Verification
What a reverse image search reveals is that this image was shared on the internet as early as March 4, 2021. According to Fanabc, the Agency for Refugees and Returnees Affairs, 250 Eritrean refugees were repatriated from Ethiopia’s Shire region to both Mai-Aini and Adi-Harush camps. Further results lead to Ethiopia’s ministry of foreign affairs’ Facebook page with the same image published on March 4, 2021.
Another result shows the same image was shared by the Ethiopian embassy in Mogadishu, still on March 4, 2021.
Verdict
NO, this image does NOT show Tigray refugees crossing over to Amhara.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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