Belgian authorities have arrested four people as part of an investigation into suspected crimes against humanity and war crimes linked to a Cameroonian separatist armed group, the federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.
Three of the suspects were placed in pretrial detention, while one was released, though prosecutors did not specify whether conditions were attached to the release.
The investigation targets the Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF), a separatist armed group fighting for the independence of an English-speaking region in western Cameroon.
According to the Belgian federal prosecutor, several people living in Belgium are suspected of being part of the group’s leadership and of raising money on its behalf. Authorities say funds collected in Belgium may have been used to purchase weapons and ammunition later employed in attacks and killings in Cameroon.
The arrests took place Sunday following coordinated searches carried out in the city of Antwerp and in Londerzeel, a municipality in Flemish Brabant north of Brussels.
Prosecutors said the investigation has been underway since the summer of 2025 and focuses on alleged violations of international law committed in Cameroon since 2020. The probe is being conducted in cooperation with several international partners, including authorities in Norway and the United States, and is partly based on a report from Norwegian judicial authorities.
Cameroon, a Central African country that is largely French-speaking, has been facing a violent conflict since 2016 between separatist fighters and government forces in its two English-speaking western regions.
The fighting has killed at least 6,000 civilians, according to the rights group Human Rights Watch.