The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Harry follows in his mother’s footsteps
Visit to see landmine clearance echoes Diana’s campaign
The Duke of Sussex has described landmines as the “unhealed scar of war” after emulating his mother Diana, Princess of Wales and walking through a partially cleared minefield.
Wearing body armour and a protective visor, Harry watched as staff from the landmine clearance charity Halo Trust painstakingly worked to rid a remote area of Angola of military munitions.
Diana was famously pictured in a partially cleared minefield in the Angolan town of Huambo in 1997, to highlight the plight of those maimed by the weapons and to urge a worldwide ban.
Harry’s mother never saw her work to help outlaw landmines come to fruition as she died the year of her Africa visit, a few months before the international treaty to outlaw the weapons was signed.
In a speech to mark his visit, Harry said: “Landmines are an unhealed scar of war. By clearing the landmines, we can help this community find peace, and with peace comes opportunity.”
Speaking about Huambo Harry said: “Once heavily mined, the second city of Angola is now safe.
“With the right international support, this land around us here can also be like Huambo – a landmine-free, diverse, dynamic and thriving community connected to and benefiting from all that it has to offer.”
Near the south-eastern town of Dirico the duke walked into an area in the Luengue-luiana National Park that was once an artillery base for antigovernment forces who had mined the position in 2000 before retreating. The dusty scrubland was marked with red warning signs showing the skull and crossbones, with the Portuguese words “Perigo Minas!” and the English translation below – danger mines.
Lucio Goncalves Amaral, deputy minister for social integration, paid tribute to Harry’s mother and said his compatriots were forever in her debt.
“This humanistic heritage left by the late Princess of Wales is the motivation for the Angolan executive to proceed with the demining programme to free the country of mines by the year 2025.”
Angola’s landmines are a legacy of a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002, leaving behind an unknown quantity of munitions that have injured and maimed tens of thousands of people.
In 2005 a 13-year-old girl lost a foot after stepping on a mine in the area.
In June the duke gave his backing to a £47 million landmine-clearing initiative to help destroy thousands of munitions in a huge conservation region of Angola.
The Angolan government is investing the funds in the Halo Trust, which will work over five years to rid 153 minefields of munitions.
Working with other organisations, the Halo Trust hopes the removal of the landmines will lead to the areas, with their wealth of habitat and wild animals, being rejuvenated and opening up to conservationists and eco-tourists.