Associated Incidents
This photo circulating on X (formerly Twitter) claiming to show Rwanda's President Paul Kagame in an M23-labelled army uniform is FAKE.
The photo shows President Kagame wearing military fatigues with a badge labelled "M23," implying a connection to the M23 rebel group. The same image has been posted here and here.
PesaCheck conducted a reverse image search on Google Lens Tineye and Bing, however, the search led to multiple other similar photos of President Kagame in M23-branded military wear as seen here, here and here.
The photos have been shared on different social media platforms linking the Rwandan president to the rebel group. However, there is no credible media outlet that has published any of these images.
On close observation, the badge's style and placement appear inconsistent with standard Rwandan military insignia. Additionally, the "M23" label appears to have been digitally added, as the font and shading do not naturally align with the folds and texture of the fabric.
Notably, the image features several inconsistencies that indicate the possibility of the photo being generated by artificial intelligence. For instance, the face of President Kagame appears polished, and the eyes look disoriented.
An image of President Kagame in military fatigue shows striking differences between the two photos.
Additionally, photos of President Kagame wearing military attires shows that the words usually on his uniform are 'CIC' and 'RDF' to stand for Commander in Chief and Rwanda Defence Forces respectively.
PesaCheck used the AI-detecting tool Hive Moderation to verify the authenticity of the photo. The results established that the image in the claim is 99.5 percent likely to contain AI-generated or deepfake content.
Further analysis using another tool also showed that the image had been AI-generated giving a 99% rating on the photo.
The M23 rebel group has been active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Rwandese government has been accused of supporting the group, although the Kagame administration has consistently denied the allegations.
On 27 January 2025, the rebels claimed to have captured Goma, the largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The United Nations described a "mass panic" among the city's two million residents, while the DRC government called the rebel advance a "declaration of war."
PesaCheck has looked into a photo circulating on X claiming to show President Paul Kagame in an M23-labelled army uniform and finds it to be FAKE.
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 Senior PesaCheck fact-checker Pius Enywaru and edited by PesaCheck senior copy editor *Mary Mutisyaand**chief copy editor Stephen Ndegwa.
The article was approved for publication by PesaCheck's managing editor Doreen Wainainah.