Prince Harry has issued a new message after his “landmark” visit to Angola, where he recreated one of his mother, Princess Diana’s, most iconic moments by walking Africa’s largest minefield. The Duke of Sussex headed to Angola last week, where he witnessed the dangers still faced by families 28 years after his mother campaigned against landmines.
Harry, in protective clothing, visited Africa’s largest minefield in Cuito Cuanavale and was snapped walking past skull and crossbones warning of explosives. Following his visit to the Southern African country, without his wife, Meghan Markle, the Duke’s team took to the couple’s official website to release a new statement about the trip.
The statement said that Harry had completed his “landmark” visit to Angol,a where he honoured his mother’s “powerful legacy” with the HALO Trust, bringing “global attention” to the dangers of landmines.
HALO is a UK-based international charity working to create working to clear landmines and other explosive devices left behind by conflict.
The Sussex statement stressed Harry’s comments about “protecting children” from the harms of war.
After a session on landmine safety education in the remote village of Mawano, the Duke said: “As a father to young children, it breaks my heart to see innocent children still living and playing next to minefields.
“All of us have a duty to protect children and future generations from the harms of war, both present and past.”
The statement explained how the Duke got to teach children, in Portuguese, how to recognise and avoid landmines, adding that the land they now play on was once an active minefield that Harry walked back in 2013 but has not been transformed due to clearance efforts by Angolan people and the HALO Trust.
Harry’s visit coincided with the Angolan government’s announcement of a new three-year commitment to support landmine clearance
It also included a trip to a war war memorial in Cuito Cuanavale, where the Duke said: “I urge all donors to stand with Angola in fighting the job. This is not just about landmines, It’s about healing the last wounds of war and giving future generations the peace they deserve.”
Over 1,000 minefields remain to be cleared across the entire country, including on the periphery of the Lobito Corridor, a strategically important railway that links Angola’s Atlantic coast to the mineral heartlands of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.
The total amount of land made safe by HALO since it started operations in Angola in 1994 is equivalent to an area the size of almost 7,000 football pitches. The charity is also clearing land around the World Heritage site of the Okavango headwaters, a vital water source for more than one million people, which supports a rich ecosystem.