After burning of CFA note, Senegal deports activist

By Alpha Kamara

DAKAR, Senegal

Senegal has deported an anti-CFA Franc activist Kemi Seba back to Paris.

Franco-Beninese Kemi Seba was deported late Wednesday back to France a source at the Senegal’s Airport confirmed to Anadolu Agency. He arrived in Paris on Thursday

Kemi Seba was briefly detained in Dakar last month for publicly burning a 5,000 CFA Franc banknote in protest over its use in the region.

His action led to similar others in Cotonou, Bamako and Abidjan where a group of youths also burned banknotes. Kemi Seba has said the CFA Franc is being used by France to exert authority and control over their former colonies.

The activist was later released and arrested again on Wednesday by Senegal’s security referring to his stay as a security threat to the state.

Kemi Seba is no stranger to controversy. The head of the Tribu K movement in France, which was disbanded for promoting racial discourse, was convicted for anti-Semitic remarks.

Ndeye Babel Sow, the head of Kemi Seba’s anti-CFA movement in Senegal, was with him when he was arrested. She told local media APS of the arrest.

“We were preparing for an interview when police stormed the house. They took him away and did not allow him to speak to anyone including his young daughter. He was forced in the car and they drove off. We later learned he had been deported back to Paris for security reasons,” said Ndeye Babel Sow.

The CFA currency is used in former French colonies in West and Central Africa -- Cameroun, Niger, Togo, Benin, Mali, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Senegal.

Last week, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara speaking at a news conference in France, praised the importance of the CFA.

“The CFA Franc is the only currency that cuts across beyond our borders. No other currency has succeeded in doing that. It is very useful for all of us,” he said.

But others think otherwise.

Professor of Comparative Politics and International Relations at Legon University of Ghana, Horace Campbell told West Africa Democracy Radio in Dakar: “The CFA is one of the continuing insults to the region and a denial of the independence of French colonized Africa. It’s an impediment to the unification of Africa because its profit is controlled by France that’s why we can’t have a West African currency.

"It is through the CFA France continue to exploit the resources and economies of West Africa.” Professor Horace Campbell told the regional broadcaster.

Anadolu Agency spoke to several people in Dakar who are in support of the CFA.

Bouba Fall said: “I like the CFA Franc because when I travel to Mali with my car, it’s the same currency I use. It makes my business traction easy.”