Twenty years have passed since the 4th of October 1992, it was the feast of St Francis. That day in Rome was signed the comprehensive peace agreement that put an end to the civil war that had generated so much suffering in Mozambique.

A peace born in a small monastery in the center of Rome, where a Christian community, still very young at the time, gathered to pray: the Community of  Sant'Egidio. From the love for the poor, that had been learned from the Gospel and from the example of St. Francis, the Community of Sant'Egidio understood that war is the mother of all poverty. It had taken care of that poor country ravaged by war.

Today, that peace is twenty years old. In Mozambique, a generation has grown up without ever having seen war. Sant'Egidio has remained close to the Mozambican people: it has embarked on a major program to combat AIDS, a campaign for birth registration of  "invisible" children.
These days, we recalled the history and fruits of this extraordinary peace, born of love and prayer.