The Franco-Beninese pan-Africanist activist Kemi Seba had promised to respond on April 2, 2023 to the survey published in Young Africa on the financing of his political activities by the Russian group Wagner, in particular campaigns against the policy of the French state. In an 18-minute video, an interview with the Limit media broadcast this Sunday on his twitter account, Kemi Seba denigrates what he calls ” media françafrique and defends its partnership strategy.
In this video, Kemi Seba makes fun of a campaign ” alleged media smear and quotes former South African President Nelson Mandela: The enemies of the West are not our enemies. »
In his investigation, Young Africa – on the basis of documents consulted with the German daily Die Welt, the Arte channel and organizations such as “All Eyes on Wagner” – looked into the financing of Kemi Seba’s activities by the teams of Evgueni Prigojine. With in particular an amount: 440,000 dollars paid between October 2018 and July 2019. Asked about this point, Kemi Seba goes back to his campaign against the CFA franc, in 2016 and 2017. A campaign which, he says, attracted those whom he names ” geopolitical allies “: ” We asked whether it was Iranians, Cubans or Russians [il évoque aussi le Hezbollah du Liban, Ndlr]. We told them: we need that for mobilization actions, we need that for travel. We have a delegation of ten to fifteen people who travel all over the world, the central office of our NGO [Urgences panafricanistes, Ndlr]. We need such, such, such means. The 400,000 dollars they say is insulting to us, because in reality we need a lot more. »
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Beyond funding and material resources, Young Africa affirms in his investigation that Kemi Seba was at the heart of the strategy of influence of the boss of Wagner, with elements of language and orientations to guide certain actions of the leader of the NGO “Pan-Africanist emergencies”.
” What is in the domain of manipulation is if there are partners who come and who tell us to say something other than what we say. In a single speech, in a single speech, did you hear us say anything other than what I’ve been writing in my books for years or what I’ve been saying politically, generally, against liberal globalism? Never ! »
According to Kemi Seba, the end of the partnership with Prigojine comes when the latter asks him to take violent action. He explains that he has since resumed contact with Moscow via, this time, Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of African Affairs.
” We are sovereign “, he continues. ” Our alliances are temporary, geostrategic says Kemi Seba. ” They allow us to roll back our enemies and we are succeeding. To conclude, he quotes Sékou Touré, first president of Guinea: To be demonized by your enemies is somewhere a medal that you are offered. »