BAMAKO, Mali

Pan-African activist Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Chichi, popularly known as Kemi Seba, has been arrested in France, judicial sources confirmed on Tuesday. 

Seba, 42, has been previously convicted several times in France for allegedly inciting racial hatred.

The French-Beninese activist, who serves as president of the non-governmental organization Urgences Panafricanistes, was arrested on Monday in Paris along with Hery Djehuty, the coordinator of the organization, sources told Anadolu.

In recent years, Seba organized or participated in several demonstrations against the Financial Community of Africa (CFA franc), where he has regularly been arrested, expelled, or turned back.

Born in France to parents from Benin, the activist is well known for his anti-Western position and his proximity to Moscow. The reason for his arrest has not been revealed yet. In July, French authorities revoked his citizenship.

Since he arrived in France on Oct. 10, he has been traveling with a Nigerien diplomatic passport issued to him by the military administration as he was a special advisor to the interim leader Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani.

Seba is an influential figure in pan-Africanist circles, where he campaigns for the total freedom of Africa from the former colonial powers.