False posts use old, unrelated images to claim diplomats are fleeing Kenya

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 21, 2023 at 12:01
2 min read
By Mary KULUNDU, AFP Kenya

Two images of passengers boarding Kenya Airways flights have been shared in multiple online posts alleging they show diplomats fleeing the East African nation amid anti-government protests. But the claim is false: the photos are years old and there is no evidence that the passengers pictured include any diplomats. AFP Fact Check found that one of the images shows a group of student athletes travelling to Tanzania.

"Breaking News; Happening now at JKIA. Diplomats leaving Kenya in such a hurry & in short notice," reads a tweet published on July 16, 2023.

It features two photos showing different groups of people boarding Kenya Airways planes.

A screenshot of the false tweet, taken on July 20, 2023

The same claim was repeated in other tweets (including here and here).

However, these pictures were not taken after the recent opposition-led protests against Kenya's government.

They are much older, with one dating back to 2013.

Old photos

A reverse image search located the first image - which features two women in pink tops at the bottom of the plane’s stairs - in an article published on July 17, 2013, on the sports website of Vanderbilt University in the United States.

According to an story, 30 student athletes travelled to Tanzania that year (see archive)

A screenshot of the article on Vanderbilt University’s sports website displaying the same image, taken on July 20, 2023 ( Mary KULUNDU)

We traced the second image to this 2019 article (archived here) reviewing Kenya Airways’s Boeing 737 business class from Nairobi to Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.

This YouTube video (archived here) of the flight review also used the image as a thumbnail.

A screenshot showing the image we are debunking in a 2019 flight review, taken on July 20, 2023 ( Mary KULUNDU)

Travel advisory

Foreign embassies in Kenya including the US, UK and Ireland (archived here, here and here) have issued travel advisories warning their citizens of the protests led by opposition leader Raily Odinga.

On July 18, 2023, 13 Western nations issued a joint statement expressing concern over the recent violence.

"We... urge all parties to table their concerns through a meaningful dialogue and resolve their differences peacefully to build the nation together, ensuring no further loss of life," the foreign missions said.

Veteran opposition leader Odinga has held several rounds of protests since March against the government, which he says is illegitimate and responsible for a cost-of-living crisis.

Several people have died and hundreds were arrested during the rallies, as reported by AFP.

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