Months after South Sudan signed a deal with the Africa Tourism Board to boost its tourism sector hit by years of civil war, a Facebook user published several photos claiming a local tourist attacked a tourist who ended up in hospital. According to the post, the images proved why “tourists do not visit South Sudan.” But AFP Fact Check found this misleading: the photos show a Sudanese tour guide lightly wrestling a white man to demonstrate the popular local sport. They also include a stock photo used on medical websites that sell ventilators.
On April 3, 2024, a post on a South Sudanese Facebook page shared a series of five images of a black man fighting a white man. In one image the white man is lifted from the ground; in another he lies on the floor.
The last photo, which shows a white man in a hospital bed, suggests that the altercation ended with a hospital stay.
“Reason why tourists don’t visit South Sudan anymore (sic),” reads the caption of the post.
A page called “Juba Mouth” shared the post with its 15,000 followers.
The claim was repeated on another Facebook page which lists a South African phone number among the contact details.
According to local news reports, South Sudan signed an agreement (archived here) with the African Tourism Board in January to boost the industry.
The tourism sector of the world’s youngest country has been devastated by years of civil war and political instability.
Although the US has issued a “do not travel” advisory for South Sudan due to crime, kidnapping and armed conflict, the statement in the post is misleading (archived here).
Local wrestling
AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches on the first four images – which show the fight scenes – and found a YouTube video (archived here) of the same fight, published more than three years ago.
It shows the two men wrestling slightly and smiling. The caption for the clip said that “no one was hurt.”
“This is a video of a white man trying to knock down a Mundari man during a wrestling match in Terekeka, South Sudan,” it reads.
The Mundari are a small ethnic group in South Sudan.
A keyword search for “mundari man struggles with white man” on Facebook revealed another clip (archived here) of the same fight and identified the local man as “Frederick Pitia”.
“A Mundari man by the name of Frederick Pitia gets into a conversation with a white man during a peaceful wrestling match in Terekeka,” reads the caption of the post published on August 26, 2020.
In the 23-second recording, a person can be heard in the background calling the white man Mario.
“Mario, your leg, your leg,” the voice instructs the man as he repositions himself.
A further search on Facebook led to an account called “Fedrick Pitia”, which contained images of the local man with tourists and wrestling activities.
An AFP correspondent in Juba spoke to Pitya (spelled differently than on Facebook) who confirmed he struggled with the white tourist featured in the misleading post about eight years ago. Importantly, the man “was not hospitalized.”
“It was me who wrestled Mario Gerth between 2016 and 2017. I work as a tour guide,” he told AFP.
Pitya said Mario was intrigued by Mundari wrestling culture and wanted to experience “how authentic wrestling or the game can be”.
“He was doing well; we did it for the fans. Mario is a tourist who was attracted to Mundari culture, and he wanted to meet and challenge me,” he added.
Promotional image
A reverse image search on the last image of a white man in a hospital bed revealed that it was a stock photo found on medical sites (see here and here) advertising ventilators.
The false claim emerged when South Sudan announced this month that it would begin voter registration in June for long-delayed elections due to take place at the end of this year (archived here).
South Sudan has not held polls since gaining independence from Sudan in July 2011 and has been plagued by chronic violence, poverty and natural disasters.
