Rep. Keith Ellison will visit four countries in Africa during the July congressional recess with an eight-member congressional delegation.

Ellison will stop in Senegal, Liberia, Kenya and Tanzania on an eight-day swing in part to help work with emerging democratic governments.

He's traveling with the House Democracy Partnership, a congressional organization that has partnered with 15 countries' democratic legislatures worldwide. Two of the countries Ellison will visit, Liberia and Kenya, are partners.

The House group uses congressoinal members to work with their peers in foreign governments, helping them develop successful oversight and transparency in government, effective legislation and a responsiveness to constituents.

Ellison's delegation is led by Rep. David Price, D-N.C., and includes five Democrats and three Republicans.

Ellison has made two previous trips with the House Democracy Partnership: to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009 and Africa in 2008.