Video shows migrants in Mexico headed for US, not Ethiopians being evicted from Somalia

Published on February 5, 2024 at 11:23
4 min read
By Mary KULUNDU, AFP Kenya

A controversial maritime deal between Ethiopia and the breakaway region of Somaliland signed in January 2024 triggered protests in Somalia, which rejected the port agreement as a violation of its sovereignty. Days after the announcement, a video claiming to show ethnic Oromo people being evicted from Somalia gained more than 100,000 views on TikTok. But the claim is false; the clip shows Mexican migrants heading to the US border.

On January 8, 2024, a video showing masses of people walking together was shared on TikTok. The clip features an Amaharic-language text overlay which translates to “Ethnic Oromo people are forcibly expelled from Somalia”.

A male narrator says in Amharic: “Social media campaigns that demand the withdrawal of Ethiopians living in Somalia have continued.”

“Especially, Ethiopians from the Oromo ethnic group are facing a severe security threat in Somalia in the capital Mogadishu and in Badawa... They appealed to the international community for their safety.”

A screenshot of the false TikTok post, taken on January 31, 2024

Ethiopia-Somaliland deal

The claim surfaced after landlocked Ethiopia struck a deal with Somaliland on January 1, 2024, giving it access to commercial maritime services and a military base on the Red Sea (archived report).

Under the agreement, Somaliland will lease 20 kilometres (12 miles) of coastline for 50 years.

In return, the breakaway region has said Ethiopia would give it formal recognition. Addis Ababa had not confirmed this by February 2, 2024.

Somaliland unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991 – a move not recognised internationally and staunchly opposed by Mogadishu.

Somalia has vehemently rejected the deal as an act of "aggression" by Ethiopia and appealed for international support.

The two countries have had a history of stormy relations and territorial feuds, fighting two wars in the late 20th century.

But the post claiming to show ethnic Oromo people being evicted from Somalia is false.

Mexican migrants

Using the InVID We Verify tool, we conducted reverse image searches on multiple keyframes from the video and located a higher-definition version of the same clip in this X post (archived here).

The largest migrant caravan of 2023 known as the 'poverty exodus,' has recently departed from Southern Mexico, comprising approximately 15,000 individuals from 24 countries en route to the US border.

Yet Democrats are focused on cooking pictures I posted that reminded me of my… pic.twitter.com/lKIqbDiIEF
— Mayra Flores Vallejo (@MayraFloresTX34) January 3, 2024

“The largest migrant caravan of 2023 known as the 'poverty exodus,' has recently departed from Southern Mexico, comprising approximately 15,000 individuals from 24 countries en route to the US border,” reads the caption.

A comparison between the footage in this post and the misleading clip reveals identical landmarks such as palm leaves in the foreground, an arch-shaped road barricade in the background (on the right) as well as the shape of the crowd.

A screenshot comparing the video on TikTok (left) and X

Spanish-language chants can be heard in the version with a higher resolution.

They translate to: “We are not criminals. We are workers! The borders are stained with red blood! If you cross they kill the working class!”

One of the marchers is carrying a Mexican flag. The clip also features the words “Chiapas, Mexico” as an overlay.

Using the keywords “Chiapas Mexico migrants” we located news reports (here, here and here) published in December 2023 about thousands of migrants moving north across the southern Mexican state of Chiapas toward the US (archived here, here and here).

A search of AFP’s archives revealed a similar video about a migrant caravan heading to the American border.

“In southern Mexico, numerous migrants have set off together towards the USA. The group set off from the city of Tapachula in the state of Chiapas under the slogan ‘Exodus from Poverty’,” the caption reads.

The AFP video features the same elements spotted in the TikTok clips, including the palm leaves, road barricade and a parked vehicle (on the right).

A screenshot showing a comparison of the AFP video (left), the false TikTok video (centre) and the clip posted on X

Migration surge

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Mexico in late December to address the migration crisis, which has become a major political headache for President Joe Biden (archived report).

From October 2022 to September 2023, nearly 2.5 million migrants crossed the border from Mexico into the United States, according to US border police.

The length of the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometre) border has made it difficult for US authorities to stem the flow of migrants, many of them escaping violence or poverty in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Cuba or Venezuela.