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No, Africa Confidential didn’t report plot to assassinate Kenya’s president 

“A Ugandan intelligence officer intercepted an assassination plot on Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta.” That’s the startling claim in a screenshot shared widely on Facebook, with details of the plot including a suicide bomber. 

The screenshot appears to be of an article from Africa Confidential, a UK-based news website that specialises in news from Africa. The headline reads “The plot to assassinate Uhuru” and the article is dated 22 May 2020.

But is it true?



‘False report’


Searching for the phrase “plot to assassinate Uhuru” on the Africa Confidential website leads to a statement signed by the managing director, Bryan Pearson, and the editor, Patrick Smith. 

It was published on 22 May 2020, the same day the screenshot was shared on Facebook, and calls the story a “fabrication”. 

“Africa Confidential has not published any such story with that headline or text as you can confirm from our website and digital archive. Our editorial team goes to great lengths to check the accuracy of all our reports and analyses – it is central to our journalistic commitment to you,” it said.

The statement also said the Africa Confidential team was “trying to track down who might be behind this fabrication and how they might have hoped to benefit from it”. 

The image circulating on Facebook was manipulated to look as though it was an article published by Africa Confidential. There is no evidence of a plot to assassinate president Kenyatta. – Dancan Bwire




 

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