Ben Affleck’s refugee horror

Ben Affleck’s recent humanitarian mission in Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo has left the movie star a changed man. The actor has made three trips to Africa in the last eight months, but his most recent visit, which was filmed for a short documentary, was his most harrowing as he met with refugees who had been driven out of their homes by war lords in the region. Affleck says, “They’re literally in a living hell and these are teachers, farmers, real, regular people like you and I. People came through shooting guns and kicking doors down and burning houses and raping women and they had to run for their lives.” The growing turmoil in Africa’s Congo region has been called one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises this century. Conflicts in the area have caused the death of more than four million people — more than have died in any battle since World War II. Affleck’s video-documented journey debuted on June 8 on the U.S. evening news programme Nightline.