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Does This Viral Video Show Marshet Tsehayu Calling on Fano Fighters to Surrender to the Ethiopian Government?

A viral video claims Fano commander Marshet Tsehayu announced his surrender and urged others to follow. 251Check found the video is AI-generated.

By Haqsemi

3 min read

The claim

In August 2026, a Facebook page with over 15,000 followers shared a video claiming that Marshet Tsehayu, a key figure and military commander within the Amhara Fano movement in Ethiopia who operates primarily as a prominent operational leader and spokesperson for Fano forces in the Gojjam region, had announced his surrender to the government. According to the post, he stated that his involvement in the struggle brought only illness and betrayal, and he urged other Fano members to surrender as well.

By the time of this publication, the video had reached more than 105,000 views, with 1,200 reactions, 90 comments, 101 shares, and 27 saves.

The evidence

251Check found that the video is AI-generated and does not show Marshet Tsehayu making this statement.

An inspection of the footage confirmed that the content is synthetically generated, with analysis tools indicating a 99.9% probability of an AI deepfake.

Why it matters

Ethiopia’s federal government and Fano, a coalition of Amhara ethnic militia forces, have been locked in open conflict since August 2023, when the federal government moved to integrate the Amhara Special Forces into the national army, a step Amhara nationalists viewed as stripping the region of its last independent line of defense in the wake of the Tigray War. [link “conflict” → Al Jazeera]

Within the previous Fano structure, Marshet Tsehayu has served as the public communications figure for Gojjam Fano, later becoming head of public communications for the Gojjam faction within AFNF. His public record is consistently defiant: he rejected government-formed peace committees as illegitimate, and accused federal forces of war crimes against civilians. [link “served” and “accused” → their Facebook links]

The federal government has repeatedly called on Fano insurgents to surrender peacefully, and some Fano leaders have surrendered. Against this backdrop, roughly a week before the video circulated, separate claims went viral that Marshet Tsehayu had personally surrendered to the government. [link “surrendered” → the Facebook group link]

Conclusion

The video is AI-generated and does not show Marshet Tsehayu announcing his surrender. 251Check rates this claim False.

Sources

1. S[S1] Original Facebook video making the claim, August 2026: https://web.facebook.com/reel/1029251693441114
2. [S2] Al Jazeera, on clashes between the Ethiopian military and militia in Amhara, 2 August 2023: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/2/ethiopian-military-clashes-with-militia-in-amhara-injuries-reported
3. [S3] Facebook post on Marshet Tsehayu’s communications role: https://web.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0qZPZR8pghXc7P4Ybmz9bpiortFbXz8fiwp57idQJVdTYwA4UvVD67t3vkvSkVcqzl&id=61586340247043
4. [S4] Facebook video in which he accuses federal forces of war crimes: https://web.facebook.com/natnaelmekonnen.et/videos/1096397708315955/
5. [S5] Facebook group post with earlier surrender claims: https://web.facebook.com/groups/127630112475177/?multi_permalinks=1360204245884418&hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen

Corrections

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