US arrests two suspected Ambazonia leaders ⁰

Two Americans originally from Cameroon have been arrested and charged with organizing and bankrolling a violent separatist campaign in their central African homeland’s troubled English-speaking regions, the US Justice Department said.

Benedict Nwana Kuah, 51, and Pascal Kikishy Wongbi, 52, were taken into custody on Friday in the northern US state of Minnesota.

Both were charged with conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad; conspiracy to provide material support or resources; and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

Kuah was additionally charged with conspiracy to take hostages and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction outside the United States.

The two men, who are naturalized US citizens, face a maximum of life in prison if convicted. They remain in custody pending detention hearings next week.

Federal prosecutors say Kuah and Wongbi hold leadership positions in the so-called Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF), which is seeking independence for an unrecognized state they call “Ambazonia.”

A deadly conflict between armed separatists and government forces has blighted Cameroon’s mainly anglophone North West and South West regions since 2016.

The separatists claim that English speakers, who make up about 20 percent of Cameroon’s population, have been marginalized in the predominantly French-speaking nation.

“The defendants are charged with using the United States as a base of operations to finance and direct kidnappings, bombings, and killings in Cameroon,” acting assistant attorney general Matthew Galeotti said in a statement.

“Minnesota is not a launchpad for overseas violence,” said acting federal prosecutor Joseph Thompson.

“Operating from the comfort of their living rooms in Minnesota, these defendants caused violence and suffering half a world away.”

Prosecutors allege that since 2017, Kuah and Wongbi have sent thousands of dollars to accomplices to buy weapons and explosives, and directed deadly attacks, hostage-takings and kidnappings.

Cameroon’s longtime leader Paul Biya has resisted calls for more autonomy in the regions and responded with a crackdown on the separatists.

The violence has claimed more than 6,000 lives and displaced around one million people, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.

Source: AFP