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 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.

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.

THREE NEW SPECIES OF CHASSALIA AND PSYCHOTRIA (RUBIACEAE) FROM CENTRAL AFRICA

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Lachenaud ◽  
D. J. Harris
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Corolla Tube ◽  
Herbarium Specimens ◽  
African Species ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Three New Species

Three new species of Rubiaceae from Central Africa are described and illustrated. Chassalia lutescens O.Lachenaud & D.J.Harris (widespread from Cameroon to Democratic Republic of Congo) is recognised inter alia by the T-shaped ventral furrow of the seeds and the orange-yellow discoloration of inflorescences in herbarium specimens. Psychotria nodiflora O.Lachenaud & D.J.Harris (Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville and Democratic Republic of Congo), belonging to Psychotria subgen. Psychotria sect. Involucratae, is unique among African species of the genus in having paired axillary inflorescences. Psychotria pteropus O.Lachenaud & D.J.Harris (Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo) belongs to Psychotria subgen. Tetramerae; it is closely related to P. leptophylla Hiern but differs in its narrow corolla tube and globose to ellipsoid fruits.

scholarly journals Quantifying epidemiological drivers of gambiense human African Trypanosomiasis across the Democratic Republic of Congo

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. e1008532
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Crump ◽  
Ching-I Huang ◽  
Edward S. Knock ◽  
Simon E. F. Spencer ◽  
Paul E. Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human African Trypanosomiasis ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
World Health ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
African Trypanosomiasis ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Variable Screening

Gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (gHAT) is a virulent disease declining in burden but still endemic in West and Central Africa. Although it is targeted for elimination of transmission by 2030, there remain numerous questions about the drivers of infection and how these vary geographically. In this study we focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which accounted for 84% of the global case burden in 2016, to explore changes in transmission across the country and elucidate factors which may have contributed to the persistence of disease or success of interventions in different regions. We present a Bayesian fitting methodology, applied to 168 endemic health zones (∼100,000 population size), which allows for calibration of a mechanistic gHAT model to case data (from the World Health Organization HAT Atlas) in an adaptive and automated framework. It was found that the model needed to capture improvements in passive detection to match observed trends in the data within former Bandundu and Bas Congo provinces indicating these regions have substantially reduced time to detection. Health zones in these provinces generally had longer burn-in periods during fitting due to additional model parameters. Posterior probability distributions were found for a range of fitted parameters in each health zone; these included the basic reproduction number estimates for pre-1998 (R0) which was inferred to be between 1 and 1.14, in line with previous gHAT estimates, with higher median values typically in health zones with more case reporting in the 2000s. Previously, it was not clear whether a fall in active case finding in the period contributed to the declining case numbers. The modelling here accounts for variable screening and suggests that underlying transmission has also reduced greatly—on average 96% in former Equateur, 93% in former Bas Congo and 89% in former Bandundu—Equateur and Bandundu having had the highest case burdens in 2000. This analysis also sets out a framework to enable future predictions for the country.

scholarly journals Fishes of the N’sele River (Pool Malebo, Congo basin, Central Africa): a list of species collected in the main channel and affluent tributaries, Kinshasa Province, Democratic Republic of Congo

Check List ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raoul J.C. Monsembula Iyaba ◽  
Tobit Liyandja ◽  
Melanie L.J. Stiassny
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Present Report ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Main Channel ◽  
Congo Basin ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Solid Foundation ◽  
Current Report

A list of fishes collected in the N’sele River, a large affluent tributary of Pool Malebo, in the Democratic Republic of Congo is provided. Sites along the main channel and its affluent tributaries were sampled and 148 species distributed in 27 families are reported. Despite close proximity to the megacity of Kinshasa, the ichthyofauna of the N’sele River has not previously been documented, and in the course of the current study, 19 of the 148 species are recognized as new records for the region. Due to difficulties of access much of the middle reach of the N’sele River remains to be inventoried and, while the present report documents high diversity in this system, the list is likely to be incomplete. Although preliminary, the current report provides a solid foundation for further work in a region that is undergoing rapid environmental degradation.

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