Harry retraces mum’s anti-mine journey
Prince Harry walked in the footsteps of Princess Diana, through former minefields and with landmine victims, as the fifth day of his tour of southern Africa focused on his poignant journey to Angola to honour the humanitarian work of his late mother.
Harry was in Angola while wife Meghan and their baby Archie remained in South Africa, where their schedule was more low-key.
HALO, of which Harry is the royal patron, is a British charity, long associated with Diana, that helps nations clear mines left behind by war. It is working with Angola to help the country become free of mines by 2025, especially for conservation purposes.
Harry visited a working demining field outside the town of Dirico in southwestern Angola to remotely detonate a mine and meet members of the community.
He also unveiled a threecountry Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy project that he designed and which includes Angola’s Luengue-Luiana National Park. Representatives from Botswana and Namibia will join Angolan ministers to celebrate the additional protection for national parks abutting the Okavango Delta by creating safe and green corridors for wildlife and and people.
Harry then travelled to Huambo, where in 1997 Diana called attention to the widespread problem of landmines by walking in a cleared minefield and meeting mine victims.
The powerful images of her mission, just months before her death in a Paris car crash, helped the effort to ban landmines, resulting in a global mine ban treaty that same year.
Harry walked the same location his mother walked, now transformed by mine clearing into a busy street with schools, shops and houses.
He sat on a bench on Princess Diana St, beneath a tree called The Diana Tree that marks the spot where the princess was photographed in 1997.
‘‘It has been emotional retracing my mother’s steps along this street 22 years on, and to see the transformation that has taken place, from an unsafe and desolate place into a vibrant community of local businesses and colleges,’’ Harry said.
Still, he said, there were more than 1000 minefields in Angola that had yet to be cleared, and some 60 million people around the world who still lived at risk of death or injury from landmines.
‘‘I wonder if [Diana] was still alive whether that would still be the case,’’ Harry said. ‘‘I’m pretty sure she would have seen it through.
‘‘The Angolan people have led by example and reaffirmed their commitment to be mine impactfree by 2025. And there is so much work already under way here to achieve this goal.’’
Harry travelled yesterday to Malawi, where his schedule includes a trip to Liwonde National Park to observe antipoaching efforts.