Ethiopia just lately accused Eritrea of collaborating with rebels from the northern Tigray area amid growing instability within the Horn of Africa and neighbouring international locations. A clip extensively circulating in Ethiopia claims to indicate a diplomat from Egypt visiting Tigray after coming into the area from Eritrea, suggesting collaboration between Ethiopia’s diplomatic rivals. Nevertheless, the declare is fake: the video exhibits an Indian surgeon who visited Tigray to supply medical coaching and remedy.
The submit comprises textual content in Amharic that claims an “Egyptian Ambassador entered Mekelle by way of Eritrea”.
The purported ambassador is just not recognized, neither is the nation the place he’s supposedly posted.
Mekelle is the capital of the Tigray area. Tigray shares borders with Eritrea, a rustic that gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993.
Screenshot of the false submit, taken on October 22, 2025
The clip was posted on Fb on October 16, 2025, and has been shared greater than 600 instances.
The 8-second video exhibits leaders of the Tigray area, together with its President Tadesse Werede and others, standing in a bunch and talking with a person who seems to be a foreigner.
An arrow within the video factors to the person, designating him because the “Egyptian ambassador”.
Within the background, a person is seen carrying a vest with the phrases “Dejen Hospital Safety” on the again.
Comparable posts have been additionally shared right here and right here on Fb.
Mounting tensions
Tensions between Ethiopia and Egypt stay excessive following the inauguration of Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on September 9, 2025, which drew protests from its downstream neighbour (archived right here).
AFP additionally reported that the Ethiopian authorities just lately accused the Tigray Folks’s Liberation Entrance (TPLF) of collaborating with Eritrea to actively put together for struggle in opposition to Ethiopia (archived right here).
Ethiopia’s federal military and the TPLF fought a bloody two-year struggle that claimed as much as 600,000 lives earlier than it ended with a peace deal in November 2022 (archived right here).
Eritrea dismissed the most recent accusation and condemned Ethiopia for “provocative sabre-rattling” (archived right here).
The clip was shared as alleged proof of secret cooperation between Tigrayan leaders, Eritrean officers, and an Egyptian diplomat illegally visiting Mekelle with out approval from Ethiopia’s federal authorities.
Nevertheless, the declare is fake.
Indian physician
AFP Truth Test used InVID-WeVerify to conduct reverse picture searches on keyframes from the video.
The search supplied quite a few outcomes, together with a submit in Tigirinya and English on X indicating that the person seen within the clip is an Indian physician named Arvind Verma Jangid (archived right here).
A key phrase seek for Arvind Verma Jangid exhibits he’s listed on a number of medical web sites, corresponding to right here and right here (archived right here and right here).
These describe him as an orthopaedic surgeon within the metropolis of Indore in west-central India.
Jangid shared a number of photographs from his journey to Mekelle on Fb right here and right here (archived right here and right here).
He wrote: “I’m delighted to share that I’ve efficiently accomplished 109 complicated Ilizarov surgical procedures — all on sufferers who had beforehand undergone a number of unsuccessful operations — right here in Ethiopia, Africa.”
Ilizarov surgical procedure is an orthopaedic process that makes use of an exterior fixator gadget to elongate, reshape, or reconstruct bones.
Though the clip shared within the false submit was filmed from a aspect angle, the person’s look and clothes clearly match photographs from Jangid’s personal posts.
Screenshots of the false submit (left) and a photograph shared on Jangid’s Fb web page, taken on October 23, 2025
Ayder Hospital at Mekelle College additionally shared an identical report on its official Fb web page, stating that the college hosted primary Ilizarov and limb reconstruction coaching to strengthen orthopaedic experience in Ethiopia (archived right here).
The report additional acknowledged that the programme featured Jangid, “a famend limb lengthening and reconstruction surgeon” from India, who performed coaching and supplied specialised surgical care at Dejen Hospital in Mekelle.
Once more, the photographs included in Ayder Hospital’s report correspond to the identical particular person seen within the clip.
Screenshots of the false submit (left) and a photograph shared on Ayder Hospital’s Fb web page, taken on October 23, 2025
Within the hospital’s photographs, Jangid is dressed in another way, however his options extra clearly match the individual proven within the clip.
AFP Truth Test contacted Jangid, who confirmed that the individual within the clip was him.
“Sure, it’s me,” Jangid advised AFP Truth Test, including, “We have been discussing the remedy of injured sufferers with Tigray leaders”.
He additional confirmed the situation the place the clip was recorded. “The video was captured at Dejen Hospital, Mekelle, throughout the launching ceremony for the limb reconstruction marketing campaign.”
He stated that he supplied surgical take care of sufferers and educated native medical doctors.
