US citizens funded Cameroonian rebels
2022.11.29 07:59
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US citizens funded Cameroonian rebels
Budrigannews.com – According to the U.S. Justice Department, three Cameroonian-born Americans have been arrested and charged with funding separatist fighters in the Central African nation.
The majority of Cameroon’s population speaks French, but a small English-speaking minority has long complained of being excluded.
With the intention of establishing a breakaway state they refer to as Ambazonia, fighters from the two regions that speak English began fighting the military in 2017. Numerous people have died in the conflict.
Claude Chi, 40, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, was one of the three people indicted;Francis Chenyi, 49, of St. Paul, Minnesota;and Lah Nestor Langmi, 46, of Buffalo, New York, in a statement released on Monday by the Justice Department.
It claimed that they solicited and raised funds for supplies, weapons, and explosives for use in attacks against Cameroonian security forces and government employees.
According to the statement, “the indictment alleges Chi, Chenyi, and Langmi conspired with others to kidnap civilians in Cameroon and hold them for ransom,” in addition to the more than $350,000 that the defendants raised through voluntary donations.
It went on to say that “in some instances, U.S. citizens were extorted for ransom payments to secure the release of their kidnapped relatives who lived in Cameroon,” and that this was the case. The ransom money was then given to separatist fighters to pay for their work.
According to the statement, the three defendants each held senior positions in an organization that raised funds for the Ambazonian Restoration Forces and other separatist fighters in Cameroon’s Northwest region since 2018.
Reuters was unable to immediately get in touch with the defendants’ representatives or the Ambazonian Restoration Forces.
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