29 January 2007 :

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi appealed to African leaders to help Italy in its attempt to have capital punishment suspended throghout the world. "We have to be pro life and against death in the same way that we are against injustice and suffering," Prodi said in a speech to the African Union meeting in Ethiopia.
Italy is trying to win support for an international moratorium on the death penalty - a campaign which Rome launched in the wake of Saddam Hussein's hanging on 30 December. "I hope that on the issue of a moratorium on the death penalty, Italy which has mobilised Europe can count on working together with Africa," Prodi said.