L’Africa nell’orizzonte italiano degli anni Ottanta e Novanta

Italy of the eighties and nineties is engaged in several areas of Africa. In the Horn of Africa Craxi and the socialists, for the first time at the helm of the Italian government, focus on Somalia by facilitating cooperation, ending with the crisis of the early 90s, the independence of Eritrea and the collapse of the regime Siad Barre. In southern Africa, dominated by the apartheid regime in South Africa, the contacts of various bodies and local realities, such as the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, encourage a movement of struggle and solidarity, in connection with the ANC and the international movement, until the triumph of Nelson Mandela. In Mozambique, with the initiative of the Community of Sant'Egidio and with the support of the Italian government and of others international actors, it reaches the end of the civil conflict, which tears apart the country since 1975, and the signing of peace in Rome at the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry in 1992. Africa is also the destination of several trips of John Paul II, which emphasizes the youthful energy of the continent, not only religiously, but also political and cultural, convening in 1994 for the first time a synod of African bishops. In the same period, Africa acquires visibility with the beginnings of the first immigration flows, unprecedented phenomenon, in which Italy does not understand the full extent, while the crisis of the First Republic marks the political and social context, hindering a policy of long-period to Africa.