By Pascal Ibe
Introduction
In April 2023, a civil war erupted in Sudan between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The war started on the streets of the capital city, Khartoum. Since then, intense fighting has spread to other parts of the country.
One in every five people in the country has been displaced because of the war and previous conflicts in parts of Sudan since 2003. This humanitarian crisis is extreme.
The war in Sudan has left 25 million people in need of assistance. Several million people have fled into neighbouring countries.
Estimates for the total death toll in the Sudan civil war range from 150,000 to over 400,000 people, while formal tracking projects have recorded more than 58,000 violent fatalities.
Claim
As the war in Sudan rages on, an image which claims to show people who died in the war has surfaced on the X platform.
A user on X, @ros_sara2002, shared (archived here) the photo with a caption that reads, “Sudan is also bleeding, why are we silent?”
Comments under the post indicated that people believe that the image emerged from Sudan was true.
Verification
When the image of slain people wrapped in clothes was subjected to an Image Reverse Search website, results showed that its earliest appearance online was on 22 July.
Many news websites in Nigeria and Facebook pages published the image while reporting an attack on farmers in Zamfara, Nigeria’s North-west.
Aliyu Abdulaziz, a social media influencer who is based in Zamfara, posted the photo in July and wrote, “About 23 Defenceless farmers were k*lled in Sauna, Ruwan Gora Towns, Talata Mafara LG of Zamfara State. 🥺💔May Allah have mercy on them 🙏”
Other pages also posted the photo here and here.
We found that Sahara Reporters and other Nigerian online newspapers reported here and here at the time that the photo emerged from the Zamfara attack.
Verdict
Simple findings have revealed that the image was from the July attack in Zamfara, Nigeria and not Sudan.
Therefore, the image being linked to Sudan is MISLEADING
