PARTLY FALSE: One of these images doesn’t depict the arrival of Somalia’s Southwest Regional State leader in Mogadishu.
While the leader arrived in Mogadishu heavily guarded, one of the images shows the security of another dignitary captured in 2021.
A Facebook post with images claiming to show Somalia’s Southwest Regional State president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen arriving in Mogadishu with heavy security guards on 2 October 2024 is PARTLY FALSE.
The post shows armed officers in a plane while others walk toward the VIP section of Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport.
The Somali text accompanying the post reads: “Southwest State President Laftagren lands in Mogadishu with heavy security guards.”
The same claim was shared here.
Laftagareen arrived in Mogadishu on 2 October 2024 for the National Consultative Council (NCC) meeting between federal and regional state leaders, which started on the same day.
BBC Somali and other local media reported two weeks before the NCC meeting that federal leaders and the Southwest leader resolved a political dispute, as seen here and here.
A Google reverse image search of the first image established that it is from 13 March 2021. The photo shows the security detail of Puntland State President Said Abdullahi Deni while arriving in Mogadishu for the same NCC meeting.
Caasimada News published the image in a 13 March 2021 article titled, “Security guards of Deni armed like unprecedented arrived in Mogadishu.”
The photo is credited to Abdirahman Bulshaawi.
A further Google reverse image search on the second image confirmed that the army guards in the image arrived in Mogadishu with the Southwest State leader on 2 October 2024.
The image appeared in a 2 October 2024 article by Garowe Online titled, “Laftagareen lands in Mogadishu with heavily armed forces.”
The image’s caption reads: “This move shows the suspicion that still exists between the Federal Government and its administrations.”
The NCC meeting convenes yearly in one of the major towns to discuss political, social, and security issues.
PesaCheck looked into a Facebook post with images claiming to show Somalia’s Southwest Regional State president Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen arriving in Mogadishu with heavy security guards on 2 October 2024 and found it to be PARTLY FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck Fact-Checker Hassan Istiila and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Mary Mutisya.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck’s managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
