A photo purporting to show the hidden side of Rwanda’s capital is circulating virally on Facebook. Internet users who share this photo, where we see traditional houses built on the side of a mountain evoking a certain deprivation, accuse the “Western media” of hiding this aspect of Rwanda. Please note, this image has no link with this country. It was taken in a village in northern Iran according to AFP.
“Africa: the other side of #Kigali capital of #Rwanda that you will not see in Western media newspapers”, here is the description which accompanies a photo where we can see houses built on the side of a mountain , which evokes more of a poor, rural neighborhood than a postcard destination.
The publication is supposed to show a lackluster image of Kigali, contrasting with that of a modern city generally presented by the media. Rwanda presents itself as one of the most stable countries on the African continent, often cited as an example for its economic dynamism and the quality of its infrastructure, but several human rights groups accuse Paul Kagame of governing in a climate of fear , stifling dissent and free speech.
To find out if this image was actually taken in Rwanda, we performed a reverse image search using the InVID-WeVerify verification tool. The results suggested by Google first refer us to a Pinterest account called Ez Derya. The photo was shared a little over a year ago with the following comment in Arabic: “the beautiful village of Hashamiz in Kurdistan”.
By searching via Google map, we can see that the village of Hashamiz or Hah Shamiz is located in Iranian Kurdistan, in the mountainous area which borders the border between Iraq and Iran.
A keyword search on Google Search using the name of the village (Hashamiz) also allows us to find this video of 14 minutes and 21 seconds on YouTube which praises the tourist attractions of the region where this locality is located, in particular its wild landscapes and its strawberry fields. There we find the same traditional stone dwellings as in the viral photo.
The pages that share this image are mainly based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda’s neighbor with which Kigali has terrible relations. The publication records numerous comments and mockery targeting Rwanda and its president Paul Kagame.
This image, which was therefore taken in Iran and not in Rwanda, was shared on Facebook in a context of high tensions between the two countries in the Great Lakes region. The DRC accuses Rwanda of “aggression” on its territory by supporting the M23 rebels, although Kigali denies this.
The M23 rebels, for “March 23 Movement”, seized large swaths of territory in the province of North Kivu last year, which they still occupy today.
