Burkina Faso’s former prime minister, Apollinaire Joachimsom Kyelem de Tambèla, has been appointed president of the Farafina Institute of Black Peoples (IPN-Farafina), an institution recently re-established to champion cultural sovereignty, Pan-Africanism, and African cultural renaissance.
The appointment, announced by the Council of Ministers on August 13, 2025, follows the government’s May 14 decision to revive the institute, originally conceived during the 1983 Revolution by Captain Thomas Sankara and created in 1990, before later falling into obscurity.
Attached to the Presidency, IPN-Farafina is tasked with rebuilding African consciousness, strengthening geocultural influence, and training sovereignist elites, with a mandate spanning scientific, ideological, diplomatic, and cultural activities.
Kyelem de Tambèla, who served as prime minister for over two years before his dismissal in December 2024 during Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s transitional government reshuffle, will lead the institute’s research, training, and intellectual outreach on issues affecting Black peoples.
His appointment is part of a broader reshuffle across several key sectors of public administration.
The IPN-Farafina’s revival is seen as a continuation of President Traoré’s vision for full sovereignty and as a tribute to Sankara’s legacy, with the goal of positioning Burkina Faso as a driver of Pan-African thought and cultural identity.
