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Two images, one of fighter jets bombarding a valley and another of a burning truck, have been shared on Facebook in Ethiopia with claims that they show photos taken during the Ethiopian-Eritrean war in the late 1990s. However, the claims are false: AFP Fact Check found that one of the images was doctored while the other one was shot in 2016 during labour protests at a cement factory in Ethiopia. The photos were published on a Facebook page called Eritrean Eplf Documents History. The post has been shared more than 70 times since October 11, 2021. Who was responsible for this devastation? Demolish Tigray once and for all, the post’s caption reads in Tigrinya. Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on October 29, 2021 The post refers to the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia fought from 1998 to 2000. While the conflict ended nearly two decades ago, the peace treaty between both countries was only signed in 2018 shortly after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Abiy in 2019 for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. However, his reputation has come under scrutiny in light of the year-long conflict waged between government forces and rebels in the northern Tigray region since November 2020. Map showing the Tigray region in Ethiopia Eritrea played an important role at the beginning of the latest conflict by providing military support to the Ethiopian army in Tigray. The former rivals together denied that Eritrean troops were involved in Tigray, contradicting accounts from residents, aid workers, diplomats and even Ethiopian civilians and military officials. However, a top-ranking member of Ethiopia's army confirmed that troops from neighbouring Eritrea had entered Tigray during the conflict and Abiy announced in a tweet that Eritrea had agreed to withdraw its troops from Ethiopia’s border on March 26, 2021. It is in this context that the Facebook post shared the two images claiming to show historical photos of Eritrea’s military exploits during the war, suggesting that Ethiopia’s neighbour could demolish Tigray once and for all. However, both images are unrelated to the regional war in 1998. Composite image The first image shows two fighter jets firing rockets in a mountainous region. Screenshot of the doctored image shared on Facebook AFP Fact Check found that the image was doctored and consists of two photos: one of Afghan fighter planes and another showing airstrikes in the Momand Valley of Afghanistan. By running a reverse image search using the Tineye tool, AFP Fact Check found that the jets are two Afghan Embraer A-29B Super Tucanos. Meanwhile, the background image can be found on the Alamy stock photo website and shows a series of airstrikes against ISIS-K in Momand Valley in Afghanistan on Oct 19, 2017. Similarities between original images and the doctored image posted on Facebook Cement factory attack Another reverse image search led to an article published by Africa News on October 4, 2016, describing the destruction of trucks and machinery at a cement factory belonging to Nigerian industrial conglomerate Dangote in Adda Berga, 60 kilometres north of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. Screenshot of Africa News article with image shared in the false Facebook post The factory was vandalised during a wave of anti-government protests by the majority Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups, which felt marginalised by the previous Ethiopian government, AFP and local media reported.
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