PARTLY  FALSE: This image isn’t of the Somalia President and Ethiopian Prime Minister meeting in China in August 2024.

The image has been online since February, 2023.

The TikTok video, which includes an image supposedly showing a meeting between the President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in China in August 2024 is PARTLY FALSE.

The voice in the video says: “Many people wonder how it is possible for the President of Somalia, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and the President of Djibouti to meet together in China. We have tensions with Ethiopia over its claims to our territorial waters. Our President has stated that he would not engage in talks with Ethiopia until they reverse the MoU. Yet today, it appears they sat together and met in China.” 

The claim was also shared here.

The claim was made amidst a territorial dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia. A diplomatic dispute broke out between Somalia and Ethiopia in January 2024 after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed signed a deal with Somaliland to lease a 20km (12-mile) section of its coastline for 50 years to establish a naval base. 

This deal angered the Somali Federal Government. In April, Somalia’s government ordered the expulsion of Ethiopia’s ambassador and the closure of two consulates, accusing Addis Ababa of ‘blatantly interfering’ in its internal affairs.

Puntland Mirror conducted a Google reverse image search and found that the image was not from August 2024.

The picture is actually from a meeting of some of the East African countries’ leaders—namely Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti—that was held in Mogadishu in February 2023, as seen here, here, and here .

The summit aimed to strengthen regional efforts toward the stabilization of Somalia, with discussions focusing on enhancing security, fostering economic cooperation, and coordinating counterterrorism initiatives.

In August 2024, the two leaders of Somalia and Ethiopia were in China for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which has been held every three years since 2000, but the photo was not taken from the event.

Puntland Mirror examined an image on TikTok claiming to show a meeting between Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in China in August 2024 and found it to be partly false.

This fact-check was produced by Puntland Mirror under the African Fact-Checking Incubator programme, with support from PesaCheck, Code for Africa’s fact-checking initiative, and the African Fact-Checking Alliance(AFCA).