Beninese activist Kemi Seba has been a prominent anti-French activist in West Africa for several years. Benin issued an international warrant for Séba’s arrest after he praised the would-be mutineers on social media. Extradition proceedings are under way, the Hawks said.

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Kémi Séba, a French-born influencer who’s wanted by Benin in connection with an attempted coup in December, appeared briefly in a court in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital, to face charges of trying to exit the country illegally.

Séba appeared on Monday alongside his son and another suspect, Francois van der Merwe. Their case was postponed until April 29 and they will remain in custody.

The three were arrested in Pretoria on April 15 after a special investigative unit known as the Hawks received information that the Sébas paid Van der Merwe about R250 000 to facilitate their illegal passage across the Limpopo River into neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Benin issued an international warrant for Séba’s arrest after he praised the would-be mutineers on social media. Extradition proceedings are under way, the Hawks said.

Séba, whose real name is Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi, has been a prominent anti-French activist in West Africa for several years.

He was detained in Senegal in 2017 and later deported after starting a social-media storm by burning CFA-franc banknotes to protest against the regional currency’s link to France. He’s since rallied protesters outside a French military base in Niger and been stripped of his French citizenship.

The Beninese authorities arrested at least 14 soldiers after the December 7 coup attempt, in which unidentified assailants attacked a military base and the president’s residence.

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