United States: three men charged for their support for an English-speaking Cameroonian separatist group

The north-west and south-west regions of Cameroon, populated mainly by English speakers, have been the scene for several years of an often deadly conflict between pro-independence armed groups and the police (illustration image).

AFP

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The United States announced on Monday, November 28, the arrest and indictment of three Americans of Cameroonian origin accused of helping to finance separatist groups in Cameroon and supporting kidnappings. 

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Arrested by the FBI, these three Americans of Cameroonian origin were indicted on Monday, November 28, by a federal grand jury in Missouri for criminal conspiracy to provide material support for kidnappings and the use of weapons of mass destruction in a foreign country.

Aged 40, 46 and 49, residing in three different states, Missouri, Minnesota and New York, these three men are accused of raising $350,000 through donations collected from the United States and other countries on crowdfunding applications.

This money was intended for combatants of the "restoration forces" of Ambazonia to buy weapons and explosives.

Support for kidnappings

And these funds would also have been used by the separatists of the English-speaking region of the North-West, in Cameroon, to finance kidnappings, including those of Cardinal Christian Tumi and Sehm Mbinglo, a customary chief of this region shaken by unrest for five years. year.

The two men were released within days.

Cardinal Christian Tumi, who died in 2021, had frequently sought to mediate between 

in this predominantly French-speaking country.

According to the press release from the American Department of Justice, these three men would also have conspired with individuals located in Cameroon to prepare the kidnappings of civilians in order to obtain ransoms.

They face up to twenty years in prison.

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