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Controversial West African activist Kemi Seba detained in Paris
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Kemi Seba, a controversial African activist known for his virulent anti-Western stance, has been arrested in Paris, a source close to the case told AFP Tuesday.
Issued on: 15/10/2024 – 16:17
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FRANCE 24
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Le militant anticolonialiste français Kemi Seba donne une conférence de presse le 26 juin 2020 à Paris.
French anti-colonial activist Kemi Seba holds a press conference on June 26, 2020 in Paris. © Stéphane de Sakutin, AFP
The 42-year-old pan-Africanist militant, whose real name is Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi, has been sentenced in France several times for incitement to racial hatred. The reason for the arrest on Monday was not immediately known.
Seba, born in France to parents from Benin, is a radical black power activist who is regularly accused of anti-Semitism. He was stripped of his French nationality in July.
In March, the prefecture of the Essonne department attempted to ban a conference by Seba.
In the immediate aftermath, Kemi Seba posted a video online in which he burned a document he identified as his French passport, the newspaper L’Essor de la gendarmerie reported Tuesday.
Incitement to racial hatred
Seba is the former leader of the Tribu Ka, a small group that claimed to be anti-Semitic and advocated the separation of blacks and whites before being dissolved by the French government in 2006.
He currently heads the Urgences panafricanistes group and enjoys a strong presence on social networks.
Seba has publicly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying “he doesn’t have the blood of slavery and colonisation on his hands”.
Since the beginning of August, he has held a diplomatic passport issued by the junta in Niger.
Seba said on Facebook the passport had been issued “in view of the fight I have been waging for 25 years for Africa, at the risk of my life”.
In recent years, Kemi Seba has organised or taken part in several demonstrations against the Financial Community of Africa (CFA franc), where he has regularly been arrested, expelled or turned back.
Seba has also had brushes with the law in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Guinea over perceived slights to their leaders.
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Investigation: Africa under Russian influence
Last year, the activist was accused by lawmaker Thomas Gassilloud, then chairman of the National Assembly’s defence committee, of being a mouthpiece “for Russian propaganda” and serving “a foreign power that fuels anti-French sentiment”.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
