Video shows naval academy drill in Nigeria, not slaves traded in DR Congo
- Published on May 28, 2024 at 11:47
- Updated on May 28, 2024 at 11:49
- 4 min read
- By Samad UTHMAN, AFP Nigeria
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The illegal exploitation of mineral resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has become a source of disinformation. Several social media posts recently alleged that a clip of people in a muddy ditch was taken at a slave market in DRC. The claim surfaced in several parts of the world including Nigeria, Greece and the US. However, the Nigerian maritime academy told AFP Fact Check that the video showed a routine drill for its 2023 intakes.
“Africans selling Africans in the Congo to work in the mines. 2024”, reads the caption of an X post that has gathered more than 33k shares since it was published on May 18, 2024.
The video accompanying the post shows a large group of young people with shaved heads and minimal clothing standing tightly packed in a muddy ditch, watched over by what appear to be military instructors in black pants and blue tops.
“This is how it happened 400 years ago!” reads the caption in the video. “They were marched to the beach where they were sold.”
Posted by a United States-based account called “Cornbread Mafioso”, many who commented seemed to believe the claim.
“Where slavery began, and where it never ended. They don’t teach this in schools,” wrote one user, while another said the scene in the post shows “Africans selling Africans into slavery”.
The account regularly shares content about the United States, especially Black Americans, to its 32k followers. According to the bio, Cornbread Mafioso is a self-proclaimed X version of an American “shock jock” — radio broadcasters who entertain listeners using humour and provocative content that may offend some portion of the audience.
Social media handles across platforms in Nigeria, Greece, US, Australia and Japan shared the video with the same claim. It appeared prominently on X (here, here and here), Instagram (here and here) and TikTok. It also spread on Facebook and YouTube.
But the claim that the video shows a slave market in DRC is false.
Congo crisis?
The DRC has some of Africa's largest reserves of precious metals, including cobalt, copper, gold, lithium, tantalum, tin, and titanium (archived here).
However, the country’s mining industry faces many challenges, including conflict, security risks, infrastructure deficiencies, political instability and unstable commodity prices.
The minderal trade is a major incentive for the continuation of a decades-long conflict, as armed groups control mining sites (archived here).
Mining has also been linked to human rights abuses and exploitation, such as forced evictions and the enslavement or forced labour of miners (archived here).
Military drill
Using the InVID-WeVerify tool, we extracted keyframes from the clip and conducted reverse image searches.
This led to the original clip posted on TikTok on June 17, 2023, by an account called “Kingdbn97” (archived here).
“This day is always a memorable day”, the caption reads. AFP Fact Check has attempted to contact the account holder for comment.
Meanwhile, the clip featured other tagged TikTok handles, including that of the Institute of Transport and Management Technology (ITMT), a Lagos-based maritime and aviation academy.
The ITMT's academic director Cynthia Chidera Ahamefule confirmed that the scene in the video shows a military drill for new cadets of the 2023-24 intake.
“The video is from our institute, it is quite surprising a lot of people are very ignorant about things. It is a drill called baptism, for new cadets who are just admitted into the school,” Ahamefule told AFP Fact Check.
She added that the annual ritual was part of the recruits’ introduction to the “military world”.
Ahamefule sent AFP Fact Check videos and pictures of the latest round of new arrivals who took part in the same ritual on May 24, 2024.
The images show the recruits wearing white shirts and shorts before undergoing the initiation and covered in mud after the event.
Their instructors are seen wearing the same blue and black uniforms as in the misleading posts.
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