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President Sako Speaks To The National Journal In Washington DC.”Our cause is legitimate,” Sako said. “Property has been destroyed, lives are being destroyed, and families are being targeted, and we decided to lend support to our communities to organize and resist these invaders”
Case of jailed Cameroonians sheds light on the perils of sending aid in foreign conflicts
The Justice Department case could set a precedent for others who have provided support to groups abroad, including in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan.
A separatist movement in the Central African nation of Cameroon has ensnared U.S.-based diaspora groups in legal troubles and raised questions about the legality of sending assistance overseas.
Nearly two years ago, three U.S. citizens were jailed for allegedly supporting Anglophone separatist militias who are battling for independence from the Francophone central government in Cameroon. The Justice Department alleged that Claud Chi of Missouri, Francis Chenyi of Minnesota, and Lah Nestor Langmi of New York all provided material support to separatist militias engaged in a conspiracy to kidnap Cameroonians and demand ransoms from their U.S.-based relatives. The three men have been in prison ever since and were denied bail pending trial.
Advocates for the three Cameroonian Americans now argue that there is a double standard. With violent conflicts increasing around the world, including in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, many Americans are sending aid to relatives and others as they defend themselves from invaders. Many U.S. citizens cannot verify how recipients use that material support once it arrives.
Samuel Ikome Sako, the 58-year-old Maryland-based president-in-exile of the Southern Cameroonian independence movement, argues that members of the African diaspora are treated differently from other Americans who send aid to U.S. allies, such as Ukraine or Israel. He made that case in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland this month.
“To what extent will America support human rights advocacy, self-determination efforts, or the fight for democracy and freedoms on the continent of Africa as opposed to what they are doing for Ukraine, they’re doing in the Middle East, they’re doing for Israel?” Sako asked in a conversation with the National Journal. “Or should we, the African diaspora in America, be afraid that if we stand for our freedoms, we will not have the support of America, the beacon of freedom will not be on our side?”
After fleeing government persecution in Cameroon in 2010, Sako arrived in the U.S. and obtained asylum. He’s been in the United States ever since. He claims that in 2019, a group of Anglophone Cameroonian freedom fighters and diaspora-led civil society groups representing the 13 Southern Cameroonian counties elected him to represent the Southern Cameroonian proto-state, the Republic of Ambazonia
Sako told the National Journal that he knows the three jailed men personally. He argues that they were only trying to support vulnerable people who resisted the Cameroonian government’s persecution.
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