Three Americans sentenced to death in Congo over failed coup
Three U.S. citizens were among 37 defendants sentenced to death by a military court on Friday for their role in a failed coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A Maryland man who prosecutors say referred to himself as the “Master of Mutilation” faces charges for using social media to order secessionist fighters to maim and kill people in Cameroon, the Justice Department announced.
A federal grand jury indicted Erin Tano Tataw, on April 24 for using social media to order separatists to injure and kill Cameroonian civilians so the country could split in two, the department said.
Federal prosecutors said Tataw was living in Maryland when he posted directives online for secessionists to sever people’s limbs, a practice he called Garring. Court papers allege he requested “small Garri,” which meant severing fingers or small appendages, or “large Garri,” which meant severing large limbs or killing people.
Tataw surrendered himself on April 25, the department said. No information was available on when Tataw started making the posts online.
The Justice Department said that separatist groups in Cameroon’s northwest and southwest regions have been fighting to form a new country called Ambazonia for several years. Fighters have attacked the Cameroonian military and civilians to coerce and intimidate the Cameroonian government into allowing the regions to secede. Those fighting are sometimes referred to as Amba Boys.
Tataw posted the requests on his social media accounts, which were regularly viewed by “tens of thousands of people,” federal prosecutors said. Along with the requests to maim, Tataw used his accounts to raise money to arm the Amba Boys and threaten anyone he believed cooperated with the Cameroonian government. He also called for public, educational and cultural property in Cameroon to be destroyed.
Prosecutors added that Tataw took credit for the Amba Boys murdering, kidnapping and maiming civilians to further the separatists’ cause.
“Tataw and his co-conspirators masterminded and financially supported a vicious scheme to overthrow a foreign government. They resorted to an unthinkable level of violence while instilling fear in innocent victims to advance their political agenda,” Kelly Hayes, U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, said. “Tataw and his co-conspirators demonstrated a total disregard for human life so now they must pay the price.”
Prosecutors indicated in the announcement that Tataw wasn’t working alone, but didn’t name other defendants in the case.
Maryland man used his social media accounts to help ‘Amba Boys’
According to federal prosecutors, Tataw and other co-conspirators posted targeted attacks on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter directed at people they felt were working for or collaborating with the Cameroonian government. That included municipal officials, traditional chefs and employees of Cameroon’s Development Cooperation, which maintained the central African country’s banana, palm oil and rubber exports.
“These social media posts were regularly viewed by tens of thousands of people, including Amba Boys and their leaders, and were often further disseminated by third parties allegedly acting at Tataw’s direction or encouragement,” prosecutors said.
They added that Tataw and his co-conspirators launched a fundraising campaign in 2018 called the National AK Campaign to equip Amba Boy fighters with an AK-47 rifle. The group raised more than $110,000 from September 2018 through December 2020, then transferred the money to Amba Boys in Cameroon and neighboring Nigeria.
Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said Tataw ordered “horrific” acts of violence in support of a brutal secessionist movement.
The unrest in Cameroon is called the Anglophone Crisis, according to the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). Cameroon started as a German-run territory in 1884, but later split during World War I. The northern region was placed under British rule while the remaining south was under French rule.
The two countries became Cameroon in 1960 after the British-controlled region violently revolted against the French government. The country spent years in political and violent turmoil as people from the British side of the country felt underrepresented in government. Attempts to unify the government came to a head in 2016 when the Cameroonian government sent French-speaking citizens to the Anglophone-majority regions.
“The government’s move intensified feelings of the Anglophone minority that Francophone elites were set on marginalizing their political and cultural significance,” according to USCRI.
That ignited the Anglophone Crisis, USCRI said, which Tataw and his co-conspirators support. Former head of the Cameroon Bar Association Fongum Gorfji Dinka proposed the name Ambazonia in 1985, according to USCRI. Separatists have already created a website for Ambazonia where they lay claim to the contested region in Cameroon.
Prosecutors charged Tataw with conspiracy to provide material support and four counts of interstate communication of a threat to harm. He could face a maximum 15-year prison sentence if convicted of the conspiracy charge, five years for each count of communicating threats to injure or kill.
Americans charged for supporting political unrest overseas
Tataw isn’t the only American who’s facing charges for supporting, orchestrating or participating in another country’s political unrest.
Earlier in April, a New York beekeeper was charged for allegedly concealing his involvement as the leader in the 1994 Rwandan genocide on his applications for a green card and U.S. citizenship, prosecutors said. Faustin Nsabumukunzi applied for refugee resettlement in 2003.
Federal prosecutors said that Nsabumukunzi directed groups of armed Hutus to kill Tutsis and set up roadblocks to detect and detain Tutsis when they left their homes. The Rwandan genocide is considered one of the “most horrific atrocities in modern history” and stemmed from conflict between Tutsis and Hutus.
Also in April, the Democratic Republic of Congo extradited three Americans to the U.S. The three Americans attempted to topple the Congolese government in May 2024. A Congolese military court sentenced Marcel Malanga, Tyler Thompson and Benjamin Zalman-Polun to be executed for a failed assassination attempt on President Felix Tshisekedi. Tshisekedi later commuted their sentences following high-level talks between U.S. and Congolese officials over security and mining deals. Congo has some of the largest deposits of rare metals essential for phones, electronic vehicles and computers.
“The Justice Department will not tolerate those who help murder, maim, and kidnap,” Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said. “We will continue to hold accountable those who aim to turn American soil into a staging ground for political violence abroad.”
Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at [email protected]. Follow her on X @KrystalRNurse, and on BlueSky @krystalrnuse.bsky.social.