US indicts three Americans for funding Cameroon’s Ambazonia separatists

The United States has indicted three Cameroonian-Americans over their sponsoring which included raising funds to buy weapons and laundering funds for Cameroon’s self-determination group, Ambazonia.

A federal grand jury in Kansas City, Missouri charged the trio of Claude N Chi, Francis Chenyi and Lah Nestor Langmi on a four-count indictment bordering on offering material support for the group.

This was made known in a press release by the US Department of Justice on Monday, adding that the defendants held senior level positions in the organisation and they risk a 38-year jail term if convicted.

It partly read, “Three defendants were arrested today and made their initial court appearances in connection with an indictment, unsealed today, charging them for their roles in a conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a conspiracy to kidnap persons and use weapons of mass destruction in a foreign country.

“Claude N. Chi, 40, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri; Francis Chenyi, 49, of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Lah Nestor Langmi, 46, of Buffalo, New York, all of whom are U.S. citizens of Cameroonian origin, are charged in a four-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 18, 2022. The indictment was unsealed and made public today following their arrests and initial court appearances.

“The federal indictment alleges that Chi, Chenyi and Langmi have supported and raised funds for separatist fighters in Cameroon since January 1, 2018.

“As alleged, they each held senior level positions within an organization that supported and directed the militant separatist group known as the Ambazonian Restoration Forces and other separatist fighters in Cameroon’s Northwest Region.”