The recording is of the 2023 Independence Day celebrations in Senegal.
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This Facebook post with a TikTok video purportedly of Nigerien soldiers displaying their strength is FALSE.
The post reads: “I think it will be wise if our president can thread softly on the Niger coupist o
Niger republic soldiers displaying their strength, to remind Tinubu that they are not playing.”
Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum was ousted in a coup on 26 July 2023. Subsequently, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) under the chairmanship of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, activated a “standby force” that the regional bloc said would militarily intervene if Bazoum is not reinstated.
Niger is one of the 15-member economic bloc.
The video in the claim, however, is not of Nigerien soldiers.
This account @loeildulion appears on the recording and it originally posted the video on 6 April 2023 with a text in French translated to; “Unpublished demonstration of the comandos forces of the Senegalese army” and with #independence #armeesenegalaise and #commando, among others.
https://www.tiktok.com/@sensport221?referer_url=cdn.embedly.com%2Fwidgets%2Fmedia.html%3Fsrc%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.tiktok.com%252Fembed%252Fv2%252F7218935729630563590%26display_name%3Dtiktok%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.tiktok.com%252F%2540loeildulion_%252Fvideo%252F7218935729630563590%253F_r%253D1%2526_t%253D8eqzXybwJOg%26image%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fp16-sign-va.tiktokcdn.com%252Fobj%252Ftos-maliva-p-0068%252F398b036475c54932afe09534a30d8727_1680789461%253Fx-expires%253D1692388800%2526x-signature%253DCvr%25252BJcTLnvViog1s6Sxh%25252FRqkyyg%25253D%26key%3Da19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07%26type%3Dtext%252Fhtml%26schema%3Dtiktok&refer=embed&embed_source=null%3Bnull%3Bembed_name&referer_video_id=7218935729630563590
The green, yellow, and red Senegalese flag is visible in the background and on the soldiers’ patches.
Senegal held a military parade on 4 April 2023 following political tension that led to violent clashes between security forces and opposition supporters.
A longer version of the video
from the event was posted on YouTube with a text in French translating to; “APRIL 4: COMMANDOS ENSURE SHOW | Independence Day Senegal 🇸🇳 | 2023”.
PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post with a video purportedly of Nigerien soldiers displaying their strength and found it to be 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 Peris Gachahi and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor Cédrick Irakoze and acting chief copy editor Francis Mwaniki.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck managing editor Doreen Wainainah.
