Police in South Africa yesterday said that they had arrested anti-Western activist Kemi Seba, who is wanted in Benin for “inciting rebellion” after he supported a foiled coup in December last year.
Seba, whose real name is Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi, heads the Pan-Africanist Emergency non-governmental organization, and is known for his tirades against France and African governments allied with Paris.
He and his 18-year-old son were arrested on Monday at a Pretoria shopping center with another man who had allegedly been paid to help them illegally enter Zimbabwe, police said.
Photo: AFP
From there, they intended to travel to Europe, police said.
“Preliminary investigations have revealed that the father is alleged to be a wanted fugitive in France and Benin for criminal activities relating to crimes against the state,” police said in a statement.
The case was postponed until April 20, and Seba and his son remained in police custody as extradition processes were under way, the statement said.
Benin, a former French colony, issued an international warrant for his arrest on Dec. 12 last year after he supported a foiled coup in which mutinous soldiers claimed on television to have overthrown Beninese President Patrice Talon.
The deadly coup attempt on Dec. 7 last year was put down in a matter of hours by the military with support from Nigeria and France.
Seba, who accuses Talon of being too close to former colonial master France, posted a video saying that it was “the day of liberation” for his country.
The warrant for his arrest was for “justifying crimes against state security and inciting rebellion,” Beninese authorities said.
The west African country jailed about 30 people after the coup, most of them soldiers, legal sources told reporters, while several mutineers were still on the run.
Born in France to parents from Benin, Seba has been sentenced in France several times for incitement to racial hatred and is often accused of anti-Semitism.
He was stripped of his French nationality in 2024.
The influencer has 1.5 million followers on social media and has been accused of being a mouthpiece “for Russian propaganda” and fueling anti-French sentiment.
He openly supports the military juntas that came to power through coups in the Sahel region and are hostile to Paris and close to Russia.
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