South African police say they have arrested “wanted fugitive” French-born Beninese activist Kemi Seba while he was allegedly attempting to flee to Europe through Zimbabwe.
Seba, whose real name is Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi, is wanted in Benin on charges of “inciting rebellion” after supporting last year’s foiled coup there.
He was arrested on Monday alongside his 18-year-old son in a sting operation at a shopping centre in Pretoria. A “facilitator” who had allegedly been paid to help them illegally cross to Zimbabwe was also detained.
Seba, 45, is known for opposing French influence in Africa, backing West Africa’s military leaders and has been accused of spreading Russian propaganda.
“Preliminary investigations have revealed that the father [Seba] is allegedly a wanted fugitive in France and Benin for criminal activities relating to crimes against the state,” South Africa’s police said in a statement on Thursday.
The police added that the individual who was assisted Seba and his son had been paid about 250,000 South African rand ($15,000; £11,000) “to help them move across the Limpopo River into Zimbabwe, with the intention to further proceed to Europe”.
They remain in police custody after appearing in court on Wednesday, and the case was moved to 20 April, with plans for Seba’s extradition underway.
He has not commented on the allegations against him.
Some of his supporters have denounced the arrest as politically motivated.
“It’s an attempt to scare a prominent pan-African voice. We will fight this. We will fight this until Mr Seba would be released,” Sayia Moudongo, from a diaspora association in Paris, told the BBC.
Seba was born in France to parents from Benin and is a prominent figure with 1.5 million followers online. He heads the NGO Pan-Africanist Emergency, which promotes issues related to African sovereignty and solidarity.
He has been sentenced in France several times for inciting racial hatred and is often accused of anti-Semitism.
In 2024, he was stripped of his French citizenship. He responded by burning his passport in public, claiming he had been “freed from the burden of French nationality”.
Thomas Gassilloud, then chairman of the National Assembly’s defence committee, accused him of being a mouthpiece “for Russian propaganda” and serving “a foreign power that fuels anti-French sentiment”, according to the France24 news site.
The same year, he was granted a Niger diplomatic passport that designated him a “special adviser” to the junta leader Abdourahamane Tchiani.
The military leaders which seized power in Niger, as well as its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, have halted military co-operation with France in the fight against Islamist militants, and have instead started working with Russia.
On 7 December, mutinous soldiers claimed to have overthrown the president of Benin. The attempted coup was foiled within hours with help from Nigeria and France.
Seba had posted a video declaring it was “the day of liberation” for his country.
Benin, a former French colony, subsequently issued an international warrant for his arrest for supporting the failed coup.
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