Harry echoes Diana's legacy in visit to Angolan minefield

Independent

16-07-2025

The Duke of Sussex has visited an Angolan minefield 28 years after his mother's famous visit in the same country.
Harry, as a patron of landmine clearance charity the Halo Trust, spoke to families in a remote village near Africa's largest minefield on Wednesday.
He gave children in Cuito Cuanavale advice on avoiding detonating mines, telling them in Portuguese: 'Stop, go back and tell your elders.'
The duke was highlighting the threat of the munitions in Angola, the same nation Diana, Princess of Wales visited in 1997 to urge the world to ban the weapons.
On Tuesday he met Angola's President Joao Lourenco and welcomed the leader's intention to continue support for the removal of landmines left from the civil war that ended in 2002.
Months before she died in a car crash, Diana, wearing a protective visor and vest, walked through a minefield being cleared by the Halo Trust.
She strode through a cleared path in a Huambo minefield, and the images of her in body armour and a mask gave the anti-landmine campaign global recognition.
Harry, who also echoed Diana in a 2019 visit to an Angolan minefield, said: 'Children should never have to live in fear of playing outside or walking to school.
'Here in Angola, over three decades later, the remnants of war still threaten lives every day.'
The Angolan government is the Halo Trust's largest donor in the south-western Africa country.
A new three-year contract between the Angolan government and the Halo Trust was discussed during the meeting with Mr Lourenco.
Later that day, at a reception hosted by the British Embassy, Harry spoke with business leaders about maintaining partnerships in humanitarian work.
He said: 'The Angolan government's continued commitment is a powerful testament to Halo's success in saving lives and reducing humanitarian risk.
'We thank President Lourenco for his leadership and partnership, as well as continued donor support, as we work together towards completing the mission of a landmine-free country.'
James Cowan, chief executive of the Halo Trust, said: 'We are hugely grateful to President Lourenco for his leadership and to the Duke of Sussex for his personal commitment to Halo's work in Angola.
'This new contract is an important step forward in our mission to make Angola mine-free, and we will continue our work in solidarity with the Angolan people until every last mine is cleared.'
It is estimated that at least 60,000 people have been killed or injured by landmines in Angola since 2008, the Halo Trust said.
The trust has cleared more than 120,000 landmines and 100,000 bombs from the country.
However, in the past five years at least 80 Angolans have been killed by the devices and more than 1,000 minefields are yet to be cleared.
During his 2019 trip, the duke delivered a call for action to help rid the world of landmines.
He donned body armour and a protective visor while setting off a controlled explosion in a partially cleared minefield, and said Angola's continued problem with the buried munitions could have been solved if his mother had lived.
Diana spoke out against the sale and use of landmines and famously called for an international ban on them during her 1997 trip.
On Harry's latest trip, the Halo Trust said: 'This renewed commitment builds on previous support from the Angolan government, which was first highlighted when the duke visited the country in 2019 to retrace the path of his late mother.
'That visit showcased how once-dangerous land could be transformed into a safe and thriving community.'