Massimo Alberizzi

editor Africa Express

Massimo Alberizzi is the editor in chief of the website www.africa-express.info

In 1976 he became a full time journalist for the Corriere della Sera. Since 1984 he has been special correspondent for the foreign desk covering Africa his stories covered the wars, starvation, Ebola, HIV, land grabbing  and political elections. Among others, Alberizzi covered wars in Somalia, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Sudan (Darfur), South Sudan, the genocide in Rwanda and land grabbing in Uganda. He has visited all but six African countries. He interviewed presidents, leaders of rebellion, religious and political leaders, arms dealer and pirates.

Throughout his career, he has faced many challenging assignments including the liberation of two Italian hostages in  2007 at the base of the MEND rebels in the Niger Delta while in 2011 he was the first European to be in the areas controlled by the Shebab Islamists in Mogadishu. In 2006 he was a victim of a kidnapping by the Islamic Court in Mogadishu where a fake execution was staged.

He has worked for Reuters and the Swiss Radio. In 2003 he served as a consultant on the United Nations Panel for the investigation of violations of the arms embargo in Somalia, established by the U.N. Security Council.

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