Remember my mother and finish clearing landmines, says Duke
THE Duke of Sussex has urged the public not to forget his mother’s words on landmines, as he argues the remnants of war must be cleared from Angola to allow wildlife and tourists to return.
The Duke, whose mother Diana, Princess of Wales, became the face of the campaign, echoed her words to say landmines “are a humanitarian issue not a political one”, urging countries not to leave the mission “half done”.
Saying it was “shocking” to learn that demining funding had been cut by nearly 90 per cent in the past decade, he urged the international community to help Angola complete its “long journey, full of heartache and frustration” to safety.
In a speech at a Chatham House Africa Programme event in London, he made the case for conserving Angola’s remaining wildernesses which contain the tributary system for the Okavango Delta. The Duke is understood to be planning a trip to the country in the autumn, working with the Halo Trust. He is said to be planning to visit the same area where his mother famously walked through a minefield in 1997, now said to be part of a “thriving community”.
“I was told just the other day of the positive transformation in Huambo since my mother walked that minefield all those years ago,” he said.
His visit, during which he is likely to be accompanied by the Duchess and their son, will be a coup for the region, showing potential visitors that the land is safe.
Yesterday’s meeting included the announcement of an initiative between the Halo Trust and the government of Angola, which is investing £47million to clear 153 minefields in a savannah area home to waterways that flow into the Okavango Delta in nearby Botswana, a Unesco World Heritage site.
The Duke referenced the words of the Princess in 1997: “I’m not a political figure, nor do I want to be one,” she said then. “But I come with my heart, and I want to bring awareness to people in distress, whether it’s in Angola or any part of the world.”