Washington ? Sen. Sam Brownback is setting out on an eight-day tour of African nations touched by war, genocide and other humanitarian crises.

The Kansas Republican left Tuesday on a visit to Congo, Rwanda and Kenya, where he will meet will meet with local officials, diplomats, religious leaders and aid workers. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is accompanying Brownback on the trip.

The trip begins in eastern Congo, still ravaged by back-to-back wars that killed an estimated 4 million people from 1996 to 2002. Thousands are still dying there each day – most from hunger and disease – as a result of lingering conflicts.

“He wanted to highlight the human crisis there, one of the worst in the world,” Brownback spokesman Brian Hart said.

Brownback and Durbin will hear from Congo officials about upcoming elections, visit a transition center for victims of sexual violence and meet doctors at a local hospital.

They will meet local officials in Rwanda to discuss that nation’s fragile recovery after the 1994 genocide of more than 500,000 people, most of them ethnic Tutsis.

In Kenya, they will watch an anti-poaching project, meet with game wardens at the TransMara Conservancy and visit with wildlife conservation groups.

Brownback has long pushed for greater U.S. involvement in efforts to stop genocide around the world, especially in Sudan’s Darfur region.