Ethiopia has recently embarked on significant macroeconomic reform that includes market-based foreign exchange trading, in a departure from its past policies. Although this has been welcomed by major international financial institutions, many Ethiopians are concerned that it could push rising living costs even higher. In this context, a post shared on Facebook claims to show protests against the rising cost of living. However, this is false: the photos are old. They show protests against ethnic violence in April 2021 and the disbanding of local security forces in April 2023.
The post in Amharic, published on August 1, 2024, reads: “Emerging public uprising in Ethiopia.”
“They are city men who can’t feed themselves due to [prime minister] Abiy’s sabotage,” it adds, referring to the crowds in the photos.
Two photos accompany the post, both showing big crowds marching with banners.
Macroeconomic reform
On July 28, 2024, the Ethiopian government embarked on a comprehensive macroeconomic reform package, a change that has been backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (archived here). The reform package permits market-based foreign exchange trading, a move that represents a significant departure from the previous policy when the National Bank of Ethiopia controlled foreign exchange trading.
The changes led to a significant devaluation of the Ethiopian birr against the US dollar by around 30 percent overnight on July 29, 2024. The devaluation has since reached more than 50 percent.
The policy change has also led to a surge in commodity prices, disrupting the export market and causing public concern (archived here).
However, the photos do not show street protests over economic hardship.
Unrelated photos
AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and found that the photos show public rallies in 2021 and 2023 in Ethiopia.
The first photo was published on X on April 4, 2021 by an Ethiopian political activist. According to the accompanying text, it shows an “anti-government protest” against violence toward ethnic Amahra in the town of Gilgel Beles, located in the Metekel zone of Ethiopia’s Benishangul Gumuz region (archived here).
The photo was also shared on Facebook on the same day, with a text describing it as a “peaceful protest in Gilgel Beles town” (archived here).
AFP reported in February 2021 on ethnic unrest in the Metekel zone, which according to the United Nations caused massive displacement (archived here).
The second photo was featured by BBC Afaan Oromoo on April 10, 2023 in a report on protests in the Amhara region against the federal government’s decision to disarm local security forces (archived here).
“Protests in Amhara region have been prompted by a decision to disband regional forces,” reads the headline.
The government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched operations to disarm all regional special forces in April 2023 (archived here). In July 2023, armed conflict erupted between the federal forces and the Fano, a militia group in the Amhara region that opposed the decision to disband the regional forces.
According to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, the conflict has since caused a devastating humanitarian crisis (archived here).
