A collage of three images of roadblocks has been shared widely on Facebook in Ethiopia with claims that the pictures show recent demonstrations in the town of Kobo, 200 kilometres south of the Tigrayan capital Mekelle. However, the claim is false: while all the images depict scenes in Ethiopia, they are old and unrelated to the current conflict.

The Facebook post, archived here, has been shared more than 950 times since it was published on January 17, 2022, on a page called “Wolkayt Tegedie Amhara Revolution”, which carries mostly pro-Amhara content. The post generated 2,200 likes and more than 300 comments.

Written in Amharic, the caption claims that Ethiopian soldiers in Kobo were ordered to leave the area by a field marshal from an allied party, but were stopped by Fano and local militias who demanded their weapons in return for safe passage out of the city, essentially causing a standoff.

“All roads have been blocked by locals and if ENDF wants to leave Kobo, it will be without weapons,” reads part of the caption. ENDF refers to the Ethiopian army, while the Fano group is an Amharic nationalist movement. Kobo is in the Amhara region.

The roadblocks, according to the post, were set up in an attempt to ambush fleeing rebels of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Three images of the purported roadblocks were published with the post.

Conflict in Ethiopia broke out in November 2020 when TPLF rebels reportedly attacked a military command post in the northern region...

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