US Army major in Virginia is charged with plotting to assist separatist fighters in Cameroon

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Army major employed as a nurse on a military base near Washington, D.C., has been charged with conspiring to provide financial and tactical support to separatist fighters in his native Cameroon, according to court records unsealed earlier this week.

Maj. Kenneth Chungag, a nurse who lives and works on Fort Belvoir in Virginia, is accused of using his military training and experience to assist the Ambazonia Defense Forces in Cameroon.

Chungag is “greatly dismayed by these charges and looks forward to a timely and just resolution of the matter,” defense attorney Robert Jenkins told The Associated Press in an email Friday.

Chungag, a 50-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, and co-defendant Mercy Akwi Ombaku were arrested Monday on federal conspiracy charges. A magistrate judge ordered their release from custody after initial court appearances in Alexandria, Virginia. Prosecutors didn’t seek their pretrial detention.

In 2020, Chungag was stationed at Fort Meade in Maryland when he first expressed interest in assisting members of the ADF, according to the FBI affidavit. In online chats with ADF members in Cameroon, Chungag falsely claimed to have combat experience in Iraq but appeared to be embellishing his military background to raise his profile in the group, the affidavit says.

Chungag is accused of plotting with Ombaku, a Maryland resident, to transfer money from the U.S. to Cameroon for the purchase of AK-47 assault rifles. Investigators believe Chungag grew disillusioned and withdrew from the organization in 2024. Later that year, FBI agents questioned him about his ADF-related activities. Investigators believe he tried to destroy incriminating evidence by deleting ADF-related messages from his phone after the FBI contacted him.

Cameroon, with a population of roughly 31 million, has been ruled by Paul Biya since 1982, making him one of Africa’s longest-serving rulers. The ADF is a separatist military organization in southern Cameroon fighting for the Anglophone region to break away from the central African country.

The separatist movement dates back to the early 1960s, when the British Southern Cameroons, a United Nations trust territory previously governed as part of Nigeria’s eastern region, was joined with Cameroon. In 2017, English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion aimed at establishing an independent state. The conflict has killed at least 6,500 people and displaced over 600,000 others, according to the Belgium-based International Crisis Group.

Pope Leo XIV on his recent Africa trip presided over a peace meeting last Thursday with community leaders in one of the two Anglophone regions. During the pope’s visit, separatist groups announced a three-day pause in fighting.

Chungag has worked as a nurse at a Fort Belvoir community hospital, according to a base spokesperson. The spokesperson referred questions about Chungag’s employment status to the medical center, which didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Ombaku, a healthcare worker who also is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Cameroon, is charged with conspiring with Chungag to financially support the ADF. She denied having any ADF affiliation when the FBI questioned her last July. An attorney for Ombaku, 38, of New Carrollton, Maryland, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Fort Belvoir is located about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Washington along the Potomac River.

___

Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.