scholarly journals The early spread and epidemic ignition of HIV-1 in human populations

Science ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 346 (6205) ◽  
pp. 56-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuno R. Faria ◽  
Andrew Rambaut ◽  
Marc A. Suchard ◽  
Guy Baele ◽  
Trevor Bedford ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Sequence Data ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Transport Networks ◽  
Regional Population ◽  
Hiv 1

Thirty years after the discovery of HIV-1, the early transmission, dissemination, and establishment of the virus in human populations remain unclear. Using statistical approaches applied to HIV-1 sequence data from central Africa, we show that from the 1920s Kinshasa (in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo) was the focus of early transmission and the source of pre-1960 pandemic viruses elsewhere. Location and dating estimates were validated using the earliest HIV-1 archival sample, also from Kinshasa. The epidemic histories of HIV-1 group M and nonpandemic group O were similar until ~1960, after which group M underwent an epidemiological transition and outpaced regional population growth. Our results reconstruct the early dynamics of HIV-1 and emphasize the role of social changes and transport networks in the establishment of this virus in human populations.

scholarly journals A4 An amplicon-based approach for universal amplification, sequencing, and assembly of full-length HIV-1 samples from the DRC

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Bletsa ◽  
N Vidal ◽  
B Vrancken ◽  
S Lequime ◽  
M Peeters ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complete Genome ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Genome Data ◽  
Sequencing Method ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Hiv 1

Abstract Phylogenetic studies have contributed to our understanding of the early epidemic onset of HIV-1 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); however, the factors driving its early emergence and establishment in human populations still remain unresolved. In order to determine the key aspects of its successful epidemic spread, complete genome data are required from samples representative of the viral diversity in the DRC. In this study, we have established a universal PCR-assay that uses seven different panels of primers to produce overlapping amplicons covering the complete HIV genome. To circumvent the limitations of purifying these fragments and sequencing them with traditional approaches, we have developed a massive parallel sequencing method and a protocol for efficiently assembling HIV-1 genomes. A total of thirty-six samples, collected between 1997 and 2001 from different locations across the DRC, have been obtained, and, at this stage, we are focusing on complementing our dataset with more archival samples that can be used as HIV ‘molecular fossils’. By generating complete genome phylogeographic data from the DRC, we aim to create a genomic window into the past evolutionary and epidemiological dynamics of HIV-1 in Central Africa and understand the natural history of this devastating pandemic.

Colonialism in West Central Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Bernault
Keyword(s):  
Central African Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
The Republic ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

The article considers a large region comprising Chad, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.1 From the 1880s onwards, Central Africa was colonized by Spanish, French, German, Belgian, and Portuguese powers. Here Africans generally suffered a harsher kind of rule than in West Africa, as colonialism brought little capital and investments, and imposed brutal forms of extractive economy. Foreign powers, moreover, proved reluctant to dialogue with African elites. Yet, the colonial era was also a moment when Central Africans initiated radical political revolutions and capacious social changes, achieving independence in the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout the period under consideration, moreover, important cultural creations in the form of music, popular painting, photography, and fashion became influential in the rest of Africa and beyond.

The Role of Gender in Agent Banking: Evidence from the Democratic Republic of Congo

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Chamboko ◽  
Robert Cull ◽  
Xavier Gine ◽  
Soren Heitmann ◽  
Fabian Reitzug ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Republic Of Congo

scholarly journals Presidential Tenure and Constitutional Provisions: Recent Evidence from Central Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 272-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Dawson ◽  
Daniel J. Young
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Term Limits ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Term Limit ◽  
Developing Democracies ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Constitutional Factor

Constitutions around Africa have been repeatedly tested on the issue of presidential term limits. We explore the four most recent cases of African presidents facing the end of their constitutionally mandated limit, all of which developed in Central Africa. Burundi, Rwanda, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo all adopted constitutions limiting presidential tenure to two terms; yet, in 2015, when these limits were approaching, none of the sitting presidents simply stood down. Our analysis focuses on the constitutional provisions meant to protect the two-term limit, the strategies employed by each of the four presidents, and the difficulty they faced in pursuing extended tenure. We find that constitutional provisions do constrain, but not always to the expected degree. Our analysis adds a consideration of a foundational constitutional factor to the growing literature on term limits in Africa, with implications for other regions of newly developing democracies.

Two New Phenacogrammus (Characoidei; Alestidae) from the Ndzaa River (Mfimi-Lukenie Basin) of Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (3980) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie L.J. Stiassny ◽  
S. Elizabeth Alter ◽  
Raoul J.C. Monsembula Iyaba ◽  
Tobit L.D. Liyandja
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Republic Of Congo

scholarly journals “Refugee Voices,” New Social Media and Politics of Representation: Young Congolese in the Diaspora and Beyond

Refuge ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Godin ◽  
Giorgia Doná
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Politics Of Representation ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Media And Politics ◽  
The Creation

This article examines the role of new social media in the articulation and representation of the refugee and diasporic “voice.” The article problematizes the individualist, de-politicized, de-contextualized, and aestheticized representation of refugee/diasporic voices. It argues that new social media enable refugees and diaspora members to exercise agency in managing the creation, production, and dissemination of their voices and to engage in hybrid (on- and offline) activism. These new territories for self-representation challenge our conventional understanding of refugee/diaspora voices. The article is based on research with young Congolese living in the diaspora, and it describes the Geno-cost project created by the Congolese Action Youth Platform (CAYP) and JJ Bola’s spoken-word piece, “Refuge.” The first shows agency in the creation of analytical and activist voices that promote counter-hegemonic narratives of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, while the second is an example of aesthetic expressions performed online and offline that reveal agency through authorship and ownership of one’s voice. The examples highlight the role that new social media play in challenging mainstream politics of representation of refugee/diaspora voices.

South Sudan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Schneider ◽  
Vanessa Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Independent Country

South Sudan is situated in north-eastern Africa bordered by Sudan, Ethiopia, Central Africa Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Kenya. It is 619,745 square kilometres (km) and has a population of 12.58 million. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011, making it the most recently recognized independent country. South Sudan, which is officially known as the Republic of South Sudan, comprises the three former southern provinces of Bahr el Ghazal, Equatoria, and Upper Nile in their boundaries as they stood on 1 January 1956 and the Abyei Area, as defined by the Abyei Arbitration Tribunal Award of July 2009. The capital of South Sudan is Juba.

Expansion of the cassava brown streak disease epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Plant Disease ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clérisse Mubasi Casinga ◽  
Rudolph R Shirima ◽  
N M Mahungu ◽  
W Tata-Hangy ◽  
Kalinga Benoit Bashizi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Virus Detection ◽  
Streak Virus ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Cassava Brown Streak Virus ◽  
Cassava Brown Streak Disease ◽  
Brown Streak

Cassava plays a key role in assuring food security and generating income for smallholder farmers throughout central Africa, and particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This status is threatened, however, by cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) which has recently expanded its incidence and range in eastern DRC. The study described here, comprises the first extensive assessment of temporal change in occurrence of CBSD and its causal viruses in DRC, based on surveys conducted during 2016 and 2018. Cassava fields were inspected in Ituri, Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu, Tanganyika and Haut-Katanga provinces within eastern DRC, to record foliar incidence and severity of CBSD. Leaf samples were collected for virus detection and species-level identification. New occurrences of CBSD, confirmed by virus diagnostic tests, were recorded in two provinces (Haut-Katanga and Sud-Kivu) and nine previously unaffected territories, covering an area of > 62,000 km2, and at up to 900 km from locations of previously published reports of CBSD in DRC. Overall, average CBSD incidence within fields was 13.2% in 2016 and 16.1% in 2018. In the new spread zone of Haut-Katanga, incidence increased from 1.7% to 15.9%. CBSD is now present in provinces covering 321,000 km2 which is approximately 14% of the total area of DRC. This represents a major expansion of the CBSD epidemic, which was only recorded from one province (Nord-Kivu) in 2012. Both cassava brown streak virus (CBSV) and Ugandan cassava brown streak virus (UCBSV) were detected in Ituri, Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu, but only CBSV was detected in Haut-Katanga. Considered overall, these results confirm the increasing threat that CBSD poses to cassava production in DRC and describe an important expansion in the African pandemic of CBSD.

The Catholic Church and the Kivu Conflict

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérard Prunier
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
North And South ◽  
The Catholic Church

AbstractThis paper examines the role of the Catholic Church in the armed conflict that has engulfed the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1993. The conflict itself has two dimensions. Since 1996 the DRC has been at the centre of a major war that has spilled well beyond its borders, embroiling neighbouring states and others further afield. Less well known is the local struggle, in the eastern part of the country in the two provinces of North and South Kivu, which began three years earlier. While having a dynamic of its own, Kivu's fate has become entwined in the wider international conflict. Given its large constituency and immense wealth and infrastructure, the Catholic Church has come to wield enormous influence in the DRC, particularly in the context of a declining state. It was a key player in the movement for democratisation in the early 1990s and more recently it has sought to offer moral guidance on the conflict. But its attempts to adopt a superior moral outlook have been severely tested by the fact that its clergy are now thoroughly zairianised, and have come to embody the ethnic and political prejudices of their respective communities.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document