Minn. man tells of refugees caught in middle of Congo conflict
Another refugee crisis is arising in Africa -- in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This week, the United Nations Security Council condemned attacks by rebel forces in the eastern part of Congo, along the borders with Rwanda and Uganda in central Africa.
As fighting in what's called the DRC flares up, about 200,000 people have fled their homes since April, and thousands have crossed the borders into refugee camps.
Minnesota's American Refugee Committee has been asked by the UN to set up a camp in Rwanda for 7,000 Congolese refugees.
Minnesota businessman Ward Brehm is back from seeing the situation in Congo first hand. He is a board member for the ARC and previously served African Development posts for Presidents Bush and Obama.
Brehm, who has been to Africa 35 times, said recently that he has "never seen anything like what I recently witnessed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo."
Ward Brehm spoke with MPR's Tom Crann about the conditions he saw in the Congo.
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