(Adnkronos) – Three people have been arrested by the investigating judge, as part of an investigation conducted by the Brussels Federal Prosecutor’s Office into the activities in Europe of the Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF), an armed group that fights, along with other organizations, for the independence of the Anglophone part of Cameroon, Ambazonia, the northwestern region of the country, bordering Nigeria. The region is called Southern Cameroons, despite being in the north, because until 1961 it was the southern part of British Cameroon, which then joined French-speaking Cameroon in a federal state, now predominantly French-speaking.
Since last summer, the Brussels Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced in a note, an investigation has been launched into possible crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Cameroon starting from 2020, following a report from the Norwegian judicial authorities. The facts under investigation fall within the armed struggle conducted by the Ambazonia Defense Forces (ADF) for the independence of the region, which causes deaths among civilians and the Cameroonian army. Atrocities are committed by both warring parties.
The investigation, entrusted to the investigating judge since the end of December, concerns several individuals residing in Belgium, suspected of being part of the ADF leadership. Investigators suspect that funds are being raised from Belgium for the armed struggle and the purchase of weapons and ammunition, which are used to carry out attacks and murders in Cameroon.
Four people were stopped during simultaneous raids in Londerzeel (Flemish Brabant) and Antwerp, in Flanders, last Sunday. Three of them were placed under provisional arrest by the investigating judge. The investigation is being conducted in collaboration with several countries, including Norway and the United States, where similar inquiries concerning ADF members are underway.
According to Amnesty International, in Cameroon, people critical of the authorities are persecuted and threatened with restrictions on their right to freedom of movement, and journalists have been intimidated by security forces. Anglophone leaders, activists, and journalists, as well as opposition activists, have been arbitrarily arrested. Armed separatists have been responsible for murders and attacks against schools in the Northwest and Southwest regions, and armed groups have killed civilians in the Far North region.
The President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, was born in 1933 and has been president uninterruptedly since 1982.
