The South African government has declared a national state of disaster to enable an intensive and coordinated response to the impact of floods that are affecting seven of the country’s nine provinces.

The National Disaster Management Center has classified the impact of current above-normal rainfall in various parts of the country as a national disaster, the Presidency announced late Monday.

Provinces of Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, the Northern Cape, and the North West have been affected by the heavy rains.

The center has received reports ranging from flooded homes, vehicles swept away by floodwaters and overflowing dams and sewerage facilities, to the loss of basic infrastructure and damage to roads, bridges and a Limpopo hospital.

In agriculture, farmers have suffered crop and livestock losses, and anticipate further losses as the South African Weather Service predicts that current heavy rains will persist, according to the Presidency.

National entities, including the South African Police Service and the South African National Defense Force, may be required to play a role in response to the disaster, it said.

Kenya’s President William Ruto has ordered the army to join a security operation against armed bandits in the northern Rift Valley region who have killed dozens of people in recent months.

Report says the order came as the interior minister declared parts of six counties in the region as “disturbed and dangerous,” issuing a 30-day dusk-to-dawn curfew starting from Tuesday.

“The government has determined the security situation currently prevailing in the northern Rift Valley Region as a national emergency. Accordingly, painful and decisive measures must be taken effectively immediately,” Prof Kindiki Kithure said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a government notice said the troops would be deployed to support the police from Wednesday.

It ordered all people holding illegal guns and ammunition to hand them over to the authorities in three days or “meet the full force of the law”.

More than 100 civilians and 16 police officers have been killed by bandits in the past six months, according to the interior ministry.

Report says the government has come under criticism for not doing enough to deal with the problem, even as the armed gunmen have recently become bolder, killing people and stealing livestock despite high-level security meetings in the areas.

As previous security operations have not deterred the armed bandits from carrying out attacks.

Gabon President, Ali Bongo has proposed shortening the presidential mandate from seven to five years.

This comes as he began consultations to prepare for elections this year and measures to prevent violence.

Report says more than two days of deadly unrest followed Gabon’s last elections in 2016 after the opposition rejected Ali Bongo’s victory and alleged fraud.

“On the eve of future general elections, I have today decided to set the term of office for all elections to five years,” Bongo said

The move will require constitutional reform and a vote in parliament.

Meanwhile, there are currently no constitutional term limits in Gabon.

Bongo has been president of the oil-producing West African nation since succeeding his father, Omar, who died in 2009.

He has not said whether he will run for a third term in the 2023 race for which an exact date has not yet been set.

The consultations on the upcoming elections are scheduled to last until Feb. 24.