The Rabbit Hole: An Army Major, a WhatsApp Group, and a Civil War.

Editor’s Note: Private citizens in the United States have a somewhat surprisingly rich history of trying to overthrow foreign governments. In this week’s The Rabbit Hole, reporter Peter Beck takes us inside a newly unsealed criminal case that outlines the purported key role of an active-duty U.S. Army major and a D.C.-area home healthcare provider played in continuing a nearly decade-long civil war. With recent arrests of nearly half a dozen individuals in the United States and Europe, the contours of what it takes to coordinate a major armed conflict in Central Africa are starting to become clear. One of the first steps? Create a WhatsApp group. - Seamus

This month, Pope Leo XIV spoke to a crowd in Bamenda, Cameroon, as part of a tour of four African nations. The pontiff’s presence was remarkable for at least two reasons: Bamenda is one of the epicenters of a bloody civil war, known as the Anglophone Conflict, that has plagued Cameroon since 2016. Second, the trip came in the backdrop of a feud that had spilled into the open with the Trump administration. 

Pope Leo’s visit led separatist leaders to declare a three-day cease-fire ahead of his arrival to allow safe passage for Cameroon’s citizens to see him speak. His presence also revitalized Bamenda’s local community, where road projects were completed, and the airport was repaired so that people could travel to participate in the events.

Speaking to a community meeting on April 16, the pope confronted the exploitation of the African continent by outsiders: “It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience.” He continued, “The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters!”

Pope Leo’s words, however, took on a new context amid the Trump administration’s public spat with the church, as newspapers throughout the West fixated on the drama of two of the most powerful Americans being at odds. Many outlets were quick to tie the holy father’s “tyrants” comment to President Trump while overlooking the context of the civil war in Cameroon, which has lasted almost a decade, killing thousands of people and displacing nearly a million more, and yet receiving little to no attention from Western media.  

Meanwhile, back in the United States, a criminal investigation was quietly brewing for years that could shape the rest of the conflict and hold at least one side of its purported perpetrators responsible. In newly unsealed court documents, authorities say a group of Americans, including a major in the U.S. Army, orchestrated a civil war in Cameroon from thousands of miles away.

This is the story of how a multi-year U.S. and international law enforcement investigation spanning three continents brought down the leadership of the violent uprising with the help of thousands of WhatsApp chat logs documenting their alleged war crimes.