Yes / The human- and animal-adapted lineages of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) are thought to have expanded from a common progenitor in Africa. However, the molecular events that accompanied this emergence remain largely unknown. Here, we describe two MTBC strains isolated from patients with multidrug resistant tuberculosis, representing an as-yet-unknown lineage, named Lineage 8 (L8), seemingly restricted to the African Great Lakes region. Using genome-based phylogenetic reconstruction, we show that L8 is a sister clade to the known MTBC lineages. Comparison with other complete mycobacterial genomes indicate that the divergence of L8 preceded the loss of the cobF genome region - involved in the cobalamin/vitamin B12 synthesis - and gene interruptions in a subsequent common ancestor shared by all other known MTBC lineages. This discovery further supports an East African origin for the MTBC and provides additional molecular clues on the ancestral genome reduction associated with adaptation to a pathogenic lifestyle. / This work was supported by EDCTP2 grant DRIA2014-326—DIAMA of the European Union, the Belgian General Directorate for Development Cooperation (PhD fellowship to J.C.S.N.), Grant ANR-16-CE35-0009 from Agence Nationale de la Recherche, the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grants 310030_188888, IZRJZ3_164171, IZLSZ3_170834 and CRSII5_177163), and the European Research Council (309540-EVODRTB). The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of EDCTP. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

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This study investigated the health needs of immigrant women from the African Great Lakes living in South Africa in the province of Gauteng, Tshwane Metropolitan city. It described their challenges and related factors compromising their holistic wellness, and identifies their context specific health needs as a gender group. A qualitative approach was utilised concurrently with participatory action research method. Data collection involved triangulation of instruments. A literature study was conducted to select relevant information usable as basis for this study. Data analysis and interpretation revealed factors that make it difficult for immigrant women from the African Great Lakes region to gain access to health care services in South Africa, identifying their specific women’s health needs. Recommendations proposed that policy makers and implementing professionals rendering women’s health care services should consider utilising a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to meet these basic needs. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public health)

With a volcanic origin, Lake Kivu is deep and meromictic, and shows a very particular limnology and some astonishing features. The data available on its limnology and phytoplanktic communities are limited, dispersed or outdated. This is the first deep, long term study (2002-2004) on limnology and phytoplankton ecology of Lake Kivu, combining different techniques: HPLC analysis of marker pigments, flow cytometry, light, epifluorescence and electron microscopy. Lake Kivu combines a relatively shallow euphotic layer (~18m) usually smaller than its mixed layer (20 – 60 m), and with a weak thermal gradient in the mixolimnion. With an annual average chlorophyll a in the mixed layer of 2.2 mg m-3 and low nutrient levels in the euphotic zone, the lake is clearly oligotrophic. Concerning its phytoplanktonic composition, the most common species were the pennate diatoms Nitzschia bacata Hust. and Fragilaria danica (Kütz.) Lange Bert., and the cyanobacteria Planktolyngbya limnetica (Lemm.) Komárková-Legnerová and Cronberg and Synechococcus sp. Diatoms were the dominant group in the lake, particularly during the dry season episodes of deep mixing. During the rainy season, the stratified water column, with high light and lower nutrient availability, favoured dominance of cyanobacteria. Phycoerythrin-rich phototrophic picoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria cell numbers were constantly high, with relatively subtle spatial, seasonal and vertical variations. In open lake waters, where allochthonous carbon inputs are most probably inconsequential, HNA heterotrophic bacteria abundance is strongly correlated with chlorophyll a. Recent investigations revealed an increasing methane production in the deep waters during the past three decades, leading to an accumulation of gas and the subsequent lowering of the energy required to trigger a devastating release of gasses. The role of primary producers and the probable changes on the export ratio of the organic matter into deep waters after the introduction of the planktivorous sardine from Lake Tanganyika Limnothrissa miodon, is discussed. The actual primary production, 0.71 g C m-2 d-1 (~ 260 g C m-2 y-1), doesn’t seem substantially different from some punctual measurements made in the past, which discards the hypothesis of anthropogenic eutrophication. We believe that the export ratio of organic matter into the deep waters was largely affected by biological changes that could explain part of the methane increase in the past 30 years in Lake Kivu.

This study investigated the health needs of immigrant women from the African Great Lakes living in South Africa in the province of Gauteng, Tshwane Metropolitan city. It described their challenges and related factors compromising their holistic wellness, and identifies their context specific health needs as a gender group. A qualitative approach was utilised concurrently with participatory action research method. Data collection involved triangulation of instruments. A literature study was conducted to select relevant information usable as basis for this study. Data analysis and interpretation revealed factors that make it difficult for immigrant women from the African Great Lakes region to gain access to health care services in South Africa, identifying their specific women’s health needs. Recommendations proposed that policy makers and implementing professionals rendering women’s health care services should consider utilising a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to meet these basic needs. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public health)

External policy of the European Union as it is defined by the Lisbon Treaty incorporates, among others, the development cooperation policy and the Common foreign and security policy. Development assistance, as a shared policy, represents a traditional form of cooperation between the Union and the developing countries and as such works as a mean to promote the objectives of its external policy. On the other hand the Common foreign and security policy was established by the Maastricht Treaty and until today the decisions made depend on the will of the Member states. The aim of this thesis is to analyze how the European Union uses the development cooperation to achieve the objectives of its external policy and to demonstrate, that using the means of the Common foreign and security policy is essential as well. To do this, the thesis will study the African Great Lakes region in particular.

L’objet de cette thèse en science politique est de dégager, à partir de l’histoire politique du Rwanda et de ses influences ou relations extérieures africaines et internationales (notamment avec le Burundi, la RD du Congo, l’Ouganda, l’Allemagne, la Belgique, la France, le Royaume-Uni, les États-Unis, l’ONU, l’UE, l’UA), les causes de l’effondrement de l’État rwandais (lors du génocide de 1994) et les pistes de solutions qui pourraient aider à sa reconstruction et/ou reconstitution. Cela pourrait aussi servir d’exemple à d’autres pays (notamment d’Afrique, d’Asie et d’Amérique latine) qui utilisent l’appartenance ethno-raciale et/ou régionale de la population, la mobilisation des gens sur base de leurs identités réelles ou supposées, la politisation des races ou des différences, la racialisation de la politique, le copinage politique ou tout simplement les ‘’voies négatives’’ de l’ethnopolitique comme fondement intellectuel ou label idéologique du pouvoir. Une réponse durable aux sanglants affrontements et aux crises politiques incessantes qui agitent le Rwanda et le Burundi pourrait être un projet politique autre qu’ethno-racial (basé plutôt sur la paix, la démocratie et le développement humain), la séparation géographique de type "Hutuland" et "Tutsiland" « par des moyens pacifiques et par voie d'accord », (selon les accords d'Helsinki de 1975 de l’OSCE dans le prolongement de la Charte de l’ONU sur le droit des peuples à disposer d’eux-mêmes de 1945, art.1 et de 1966, art.1) dans le scénario de l’ancien Ruanda-Urundi, mais avec chacun une seule communauté, et l’intégration régionale à l’instar de l’Union européenne, tout en respectant le droit international. / The purpose of this PhD thesis in political science is to pinpoint, based on the political history of Rwanda and its external influences or relations at african and international level (particularly with Burundi, the DR of Congo, Uganda, Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, the UN, the EU and the AU), the causes of the collapse of the Rwandan state (during the 1994 genocide) and the potential solutions that could help to rebuild and/or reform it. This could also serve as an example to other countries (particularly those in Africa, Asia and Latin America), which use the ethno-racial and/or regional affiliation of the population, the mobilization of people based on their real or supposed identities, the politicization of races or differences, racialization of politics, political cronyism or quite simply the “negative ways” of ethnopolitics as an intellectual basis or ideological label of power. A sustainable response to the bloody conflicts and endless political crises afflicting Rwanda and Burundi could be a political project rather than an ethno-racial one (based more on peace, democracy and human development), geographical separation in the style of "Hutuland" and "Tutsiland" “by peaceful means and through agreement” (according to the 1975 Helsinki Accords of the OSCE in the extension of the UN Charter on the right of peoples to self-determination in 1945, Art.1 and 1966, Art.1) in the setting of the former Ruanda-Urundi, but each with a separate community and regional integration in a manner similar to that of the European Union, while respecting international law.