Burkina Faso: Farafina appointed head of the Institute of Black Peoples, a new body dedicated to African history and renaissance
On Friday, the Minister Secretary General of the Presidency of Faso, Dr. Zakaria SORÉ, representing the President of Faso, Captain Ibrahim TRAORÉ, officially installed Dr. Apollinaire Joachimson KYELEM de Tambèla as President of “the Institut des Peuples Noirs Farafina (IPN-Farafina)” (Institute of Black People). This ceremony marks a concrete step in the rebirth of this symbolic institution.
Appointed by decree on August 13, 2025, Dr. Apollinaire Joachimson KYELEM de Tambèla, a former Prime Minister and respected political figure, now takes the helm of IPN-Farafina, which was re‑established last May 14.
His installation holds particular significance, connecting Burkina Faso’s revolutionary past with its present.
In his address, Minister Zakaria SORÉ drew a powerful historical link. He recalled that the Institut des Peuples Noirs was originally created during the August 1983 Revolution led by Captain Thomas SANKARA.
Its re‑founding today, in his words, fits within the context of the ongoing “Revolution” under the leadership of Captain Ibrahim TRAORÉ.
The Minister solemnly invited the new President of the IPN to “carry forward the hope of Captain Thomas SANKARA and the vision of the President of Faso,” entrusting the institute with a mission of ideological continuity and Pan‑African influence.
Following his installation, Dr. Apollinaire Joachimson KYELEM de Tambèla expressed his gratitude to President TRAORÉ for the confidence placed in him. He then outlined the ambitious and universal scope of the institute he now leads: “The Institut des Peuples Noirs Farafina concerns Black Peoples, and beyond, all of humanity.”
The new president detailed the fundamental mission he intends to promote. For him, a primary task of IPN‑Farafina will be to “teach Black peoples their history in order to project themselves into the future.”
He described the institute as a space for reflection and collective synthesis: “The Institut des Peuples Noirs Farafina will be a laboratory that gathers insights from everyone so that we can reconstruct our history.”
This approach aims to forge a historical consciousness freed from imposed narratives, laying the groundwork for an autonomous cultural and intellectual renaissance.
The establishment of this body, entrusted to an experienced personality, thus appears as a cornerstone in the policy of cultural sovereignty and identity reaffirmation advocated by the Burkinabe authorities.
IPN‑Farafina is poised to become a center for the production and dissemination of knowledge, serving the reappropriation of historical narrative by Black peoples themselves.
Maurice K.ZONGO
