Floods in Democratic Republic of Congo claim dozens of lives

Dozens of people have died in flooding in the Democratic Republic of Congo when the Congo River and its tributaries burst their banks, a charity and media reports said on Saturday, as heavy rains also lashed east Africa.

Twenty-five people were reported to have been killed in the northwestern province of Equator bordering Congo-Brazzaville, Congolese media reports said.

"We declare that the province of Equator is disaster-stricken," provincial interior minister Jean Julie Mwamolanda told news site news.cd.

A spokesman for the Catholic charity Caritas-Congo said that "local authorities have recorded ten deaths in the province of North Ubangi".

More than 180,000 people required humanitarian assistance in the same northern region which borders Central Africa, which has also been hit by rains and floods in the past month.

"The waters are coming down (but) this opens the door to illness," added Caritas' Guy-Marin Kamandji.

Tens of thousands of people were also affected in the neighbouring province of South Ubangi, though which the Oubangui River runs between DRC and the Central African Republic.

On the other side of the Congo river, at least 50,000 people were affected by the downpours prompting the Congo-Brazzaville government to declare a state of emergency.

Newspaper Les Depeches de Brazzaville reported three dead on Thursday.

On Friday, residents also reported a dozen deaths in the DRC's southwestern Kasai province.

Heavy rains and landslides have also killed dozens in Kenya amid weeks of downpours across the wider East African region.