I rapporti tra Gheddafi e Déby sono caratterizzati da una certa superficialità, dovuta alle tensioni passate e ai sospetti che nutrono l’uno per l’altro.

While the prospect of Guinea's return to constitutional rule after its recent election is cause for hope, the recent resurgence of military takeovers in Africa may not yet have run its full course.

For more than a year and a half, UN peacekeepers have continuously supported military operations conducted by the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) against the Rwandan rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in North and South Kivu.

The approaching elections could be important steps toward reviving democracy in Chad, but only if President Idriss Déby opens political space for the opposition beforehand.

Dans de nombreux pays, le pétrole suscite des débats controversés sur son rôle de moteur de changements économiques, sociaux et géopolitiques. Depuis quelques années, les réflexions sur la question du pétrole ont démontré une corrélation négative entre son exploitation, le développement socioéconomique, la gouvernance et le regain des conflits dans les pays producteurs.

In numerous countries, the exploitation of oil has generated debate about its economic, social and geopolitical consequences.

The UN's release of a long awaited report on crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo between 1993-2003 is not only an opportunity to re-examine the historical record of mass violence in DRC -- the scale and nature of which was often overlooked in the wake of the genocide in neighboring Rwanda -- but is also a chance to correct the terms of the deceptive and fragile peace some leaders wish to proclaim in the resource-rich Great Lakes region of Africa.

Es ist eine einmalige Chance, die sich dieser Tage bietet: Die Veröffentlichung eines lang erwarteten Berichts der Vereinten Nationen über Verbrechen in der Demokratischen Republik Kongo (DRK) ist die Gelegenheit für eine Wiederaufarbeitung der Geschichte der massiven Gewalt im Kongo zwischen 1993 und 2003.

The attempt by Congo and Rwanda to end the deadly conflict in eastern Congo by a secret presidential deal and military force is failing and must be changed fundamentally by the Kinshasa government and the international community.

Extreme poverty and armed conflict in the diamond-rich areas of the Central African Republic (CAR) put thousands of lives in danger and demand urgent reform of the mining sector.

Burundi risks reversing the decade of progress it has enjoyed since its civil war ended unless the government resumes political dialogue with the opposition.

Le processus électoral hors délai constitutionnel qui se déroule depuis le 23 janvier en Centrafrique n'est pas seulement une nouvelle opportunité manquée pour la démocratisation du pays mais c'est aussi un risque sérieux pour la paix.

A la veille de l’entrée en vigueur le 15 avril de l’obligation de rendre publique l’origine des minerais pour les grandes compagnies basées aux Etats-Unis, ICG a effectué une mission au Nord Kivu afin d’évaluer les différentes stratégies de lutte contre les minerais des conflits et leur impact sur le terrain.

On 15 June 2011 the Congolese Parliament adopted, after nearly three months of de-bate, the new electoral law. The Senate, or upper house, controlled by the opposition, and the National Assembly, or lower house, controlled by the ruling coalition, both voted for an electoral law which ultimately remains very similar to that governing the 2006 elections. Parliament took three months of debate to reject most of the amend-ments proposed by the ruling party (PPRD). In doing so it demonstrated that the ex-ecutive could not simply trump its interests.

The fall of Qaddafi’s regime, followed by his death on 20 October, could pave the way to promises of democracy in Libya but left neighbouring countries facing new potential problems that could threaten stability in the region.

More than a decade after the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) was requested by the African Union (AU) to give life to a new peace and security architecture, political and security cooperation on the continent is still in need of reinforcement.

Le président sortant vient d'entamer un sixième mandat au Cameroun. Aujourd'hui, le pays est résolument tourné vers l'avenir et pense à l'après-Biya.

Renewed oil interest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) could nurture communal resentments, exacerbate deep-rooted conflict dynamics and weaken national cohesion.

The collapse of the state and the disappearance of security forces from a large part of the territory may turn the Central African Republic (CAR) into a source of instability in the heart of Africa.
Please note the full report is only available in French.

Los conflictos en los países pequeños suelen agravarse debido a la indiferencia internacional. Sin embargo, en el caso de la República Centroafricana (RCA), el problema es ligeramente distinto. Hay una importante presencia internacional en este Estado, pero los actores principales han decidido mantenerse al margen y esperar en vez de intervenir activamente en la crisis.

Depuis jeudi et l’attaque de Bangui par les groupes anti-balaka qui viennent de province et sont composés de villageois et d’anciens militaires constitués en milices d’autodéfense, un calme précaire est revenu dans la capitale centrafricaine grâce au déploiement des militaires français.

Unless the government revives land governance reform in Burundi, long-term peacebuilding efforts will remain compromised.

To avoid a revival of past ethnic tensions between Hutu and Tutsi, Burundi needs to find the right balance between land restitution and national reconciliation.

Sensible, inclusive regulation of pastoralism that has mitigated tension in parts of the Sahel should be extended to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR), where conflicts have worsened with the southward expansion of pastoralism.

The crisis that has been occurring in CAR is certainly the most dramatic in its history: more than 600 000 Central Africans are internally displaced or sought refuge in neighbouring countries; according to the United Nations, 1.7 million live in a constant situation of food insecurity and 878 000 need immediate medical assistance; Muslim communities are fleeing Bangui and the western region, subsistence economy no longer exists and the de facto partition of the country, caused by the sectarian violence, is gradually becoming a reality.

Alors qu’une tentative de coup d’Etat contre Pierre Nkurunziza, émanant de l’ex-chef d’état-major, Godefroid Niyombaré, est en cours au Burundi, Thierry Vircoulon chercheur à l'International Crisis Group, explique qui est le général putschiste et analyse, plus généralement, l'appareil sécuritaire du Burundi.

The deteriorating situation in Burundi is a perfect storm of much that undermines stability in Africa today — presidents seeking impunity and power through dubious new terms, authoritarian regimes muzzling opposition and independent media, regional rivalries stalemating efforts to bring peace and outside powers unwilling or unable to act.

Ahead of Chad’s presidential election on 10 April popular discontent is rising amid a major economic crisis, growing intra-religious tensions and deadly Boko Haram attacks. The regime that portrays itself as spearheading the fight against regional jihadism could see all sorts of violent actors gain influence at home if it pursues exclusionary politics and denies its people a viable social contract.

Burundi’s year-long crisis has not gone away. It started with President Pierre Nkurunziza’s determination to claim a third term, trampling over the constitutional arrangements that ended a decade-long civil war. Press freedom is a major casualty of the new strife; but the turmoil has also transformed the way in which Burundians get information. For better or worse, social media has filled the vacuum left by the shutting down of the most popular radio stations and forcing out of many of the country’s professional journalists.

David Figlio and Eduwonkette discuss if today's testing and accountability policies accurately depict student performance and the size of the achievement

A 10-year study by a blue-ribbon panel of scientists concludes that high-stakes testing and other accountability measures have largely failed to translate to real improvements in student achievement.

The Education Week Research Center looks at student scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress from 2003 to 2015, a period overlapping with the No Child Left Behind Act.

The U.S. Education Department says the states need more evidence to use the popular admissions test to measure high school achievement.

The U.S. tests its students more than most nations, but is the deluge of data providing the information schools need?

Helen Janc Malone introduces this week's blog theme, "accountability and assessment systems." She writes that at the heart of the current accountability debate is a fundamental question, What is the purpose of all the collected assessment data? Are they an end game or a starting point to educational

News.

If we continue to focus on student growth and improvement as learners, keep track of that progress, and watch its impact on standard test results, will we be able to know if what we are doing is helping students develop as learners and thinkers.

This article, published ahead of print on 28 July 2008, has been withdrawn by the authors. Although moderate synergy between P2-RANTES and C peptides can be observed with high statistical significance in cell fusion assays, this synergy was not able to be verified in HIV viral assays. The authors regret the overstatement of synergy and will revise the paper for publication at a later date.

Objectives. The aim of this study was to assess the safety of early oral switch (EOS) prior to 14 days for low-risk Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (LR-SAB), which is the primary treatment strategy employed at our institution. Usually recommended therapy is 14 days of intravenous (IV) antibiotics.

Methods. All patients with SAB at our hospital were identified between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2018. Those meeting low-risk criteria (healthcare-associated, no evidence of deep infection or demonstrated involvement of prosthetic material, and no further positive blood cultures after 72-hours) were included in the study. The primary outcome was occurrence of a SAB-related complication within 90 days.

Results. There were 469 SAB episodes during the study period, 100 (21%) of whom met inclusion criteria. EOS was performed in 84 patients. In this group, line infection was the source in 79%, methicillin-susceptible S. aureus caused 95% of SABs and 74% of patients received IV flucloxacillin. The median duration of IV and oral antibiotics in the EOS group was 5 (IQR 4-6) and 10 days (IQR 9-14), respectively. Seventy-one percent of patients received flucloxacillin as their EOS agent. Overall, 86% of oral step-down therapy was with beta-lactams. One patient (1%) undergoing EOS had SAB relapse within 90 days. No deaths attributable to SAB occurred within 90 days.

Conclusions. In this low MRSA prevalence LR-SAB cohort, EOS was associated with a low incidence of SAB-related complications. This was achieved with oral beta-lactam therapy in most patients. Larger prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Background: This study summarizes drug resistance analyses in 4 recent phase 2b trials of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) fusion inhibitor presatovir in naturally infected adults.

Methods: Adult hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients, lung transplant recipients, or hospitalized patients with naturally acquired, laboratory-confirmed RSV infection were enrolled in 4 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies with study-specific presatovir dosing. Full-length RSV F sequences amplified from nasal swabs obtained at baseline and postbaseline were analyzed by population sequencing. Substitutions at RSV fusion inhibitor resistance-associated positions are reported.

Results: Genotypic analyses were performed on 233 presatovir-treated and 149 placebo-treated subjects. RSV F variant V127A was present in 8 subjects at baseline. Population sequencing detected treatment-emergent substitutions in 10/89 (11.2%) HCT recipients with upper and 6/29 (20.7%) with lower respiratory tract infection, 1/35 (2.9%) lung transplant recipients, and 1/80 (1.3%) hospitalized patients treated with presatovir; placebo-treated subjects had no emergent resistance-associated substitutions. Subjects with substitutions at resistance-associated positions had smaller decreases in viral load during treatment relative to those without, but similar clinical outcomes.

Conclusions: Subject population type and dosing regimen may have influenced RSV resistance development during presatovir treatment. Subjects with vs without genotypic resistance development had decreased virologic responses but comparable clinical outcomes.

QPX7728 is a new ultra-broad-spectrum inhibitor of serine and metallo beta-lactamases from a class of cyclic boronates that gave rise to vaborbactam. The spectrum and mechanism of beta-lactamase inhibition by QPX7728 were assessed using purified enzymes from all molecular classes. QPX7728 inhibits class A ESBLs (IC₅₀ range 1-3 nM) and carbapenemases such as KPC (IC₅₀ 2.9±0.4 nM) as well as class C P99 (IC₅₀ of 22±8 nM) with a potency that is comparable or higher than recently FDA approved BLIs avibactam, relebactam and vaborbactam. Unlike those other BLIs, QPX7728 is also a potent inhibitor of class D carbapenemases such as OXA-48 from Enterobacteriaceae and OXA enzymes from A. baumannii (OXA-23/24/58, IC₅₀ range 1-2 nM) as well as MBLs such as NDM-1 (IC₅₀ 55±25 nM), VIM-1 (IC₅₀ 14±4 nM) and IMP-1 (IC₅₀ 610±70 nM). Inhibition of serine enzymes by QPX7728 is associated with progressive inactivation with a high efficiency k₂/K ranging from of 6.3 x 10⁴ (for P99) to 9.9 x 10⁵ M^-1 s^-1 (for OXA-23). This inhibition is reversible with variable stability of the QPX7728-beta-lactamase complexes with target residence time ranging from minutes to several hours: 5-20 minutes for OXA carbapenemases from A. baumanii, ~50 minutes for OXA-48 and 2-3 hours for KPC and CTX-M-15. QPX7728 inhibited all tested serine enzymes at 1:1 molar ratio. Metallo-beta-lactamases NDM, VIM, and IMP were inhibited by a competitive mechanism with fast-on-fast-off kinetics, with K_is of 7.5±2.1 nM, 32±14 nM and 240±30 nM for VIM-1, NDM-1 and IMP-1, respectively. QPX7728 ultra-broad-spectrum of BLI inhibition combined with its high potency enables combinations with multiple different beta-lactam antibiotics.

Leishmania major is the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). No human vaccine is available for CL and current drug regimens present several drawbacks such as emerging resistance, severe toxicity, medium effectiveness, and/or high cost. Thus, the need for better treatment options against CL is a priority. In the present study, we validate the enzyme methionine aminopeptidase-1 (MetAP1), a metalloprotease that catalyzes the removal of N-terminal methionine from peptides and proteins, as a chemotherapeutic target against CL infection. The in vitro antileishmanial activity of eight novel MetAP1 inhibitors (OJT001-OJT008) were investigated. Three compounds OJT006, OJT007, and OJT008 demonstrated potent anti-proliferative effect in macrophages infected with L. major amastigotes and promastigotes at submicromolar concentrations, with no cytotoxicity against host cells. Importantly, the leishmanicidal effect was diminished by almost 10-fold in transgenic L. major promastigotes overexpressing MetAP1_LM in comparison to wild-type promastigotes. Furthermore, the in vivo activity of OJT006, OJT007, and OJT008 were investigated in L. major-infected BALB/c mice. In comparison to the control group, OJT008 significantly decreased footpad parasite load by 86%, and exhibited no toxicity against in treated mice. We propose MetAP1 inhibitor OJT008 as a potential chemotherapeutic candidate against CL infection caused by L. major infection.