Latest news with #minefield
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Copycat Harry is at it again... how many times is he going to pull the Mum card? William must be thrilled watching him pretend to be Diana: JAN MOIR
Sometimes I feel very sorry for Prince Harry, and sometimes I very much do not. Watching him walk across an Angolan minefield this week, with his expression set to Hollywood-wattage-warzone-grim, caused a mixture of emotions in my calloused heart.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Prince Harry Follows in Diana's Footsteps as Specter of Land Mines Returns
In 1997, wearing body armor and surrounded by warning signs emblazoned with skulls, Diana, Princess of Wales, drew the world's attention to the brutal and enduring consequences of land mines by walking through a minefield in Angola, which was then enduring a civil war. On Wednesday, her son, Prince Harry, made the same journey through a partially cleared minefield, at a time when countries are beginning to break away from the international anti-land mine treaty drawn up in the months after Diana's visit. Harry visited Cuito Cuanavale, a remote community around 350 miles from the live minefield that Diana walked through in Huambo 28 years ago. During a previous trip in 2019, Harry had retraced his mother's steps on the same piece of land, which had been made safe and reclaimed for homes, schools and businesses. Both he and his mother traveled with The Halo Trust, a British land mine clearance nonprofit. The group said that Harry had joined a group of de-miners in what it believes to be Africa's largest remaining minefield, and helped to destroy two anti-tank mines from the conflict that raged between 1975 and 2002. The timing is symbolic. Months after his mother's visit to the southern African country in January 1997, 164 nations signed a United Nations convention banning antipersonnel land mines, leading to a virtual halt in global production of the weapons and the destruction of stockpiles. This year, at least five countries will leave the convention. Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania announced their withdrawal in March, saying in a joint statement that the security of their region had 'fundamentally deteriorated' since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and that it was 'essential to evaluate all measures to strengthen our deterrence and defense capabilities.' The withdrawal will come into effect in September, and Finland will follow two weeks later. Antipersonnel land mines are already being used in the Ukraine war — including some supplied by the United States — and the latest announcements have raised fears that the indiscriminate weapons, and the terrible destruction they wreak on children and civilians, will spread once more. The Halo Trust said that at least 60,000 people were known to have been killed or injured by land mines in Angola since 2008, and the true total was likely to be higher. Of those, 80 deaths have come in the past five years, despite continued clearance efforts.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Harry revisits Diana's footsteps in Angola with landmine walk
Prince Harry recreated his mother Princess Diana 's historic landmine walk in Angola, 28 years after her original visit to the country. Visiting as a patron of the Halo Trust, the Duke of Sussex advised children in a remote village near Africa's largest minefield on how to avoid detonating mines, telling them in Portuguese: "Stop, go back and tell your elders." His visit highlighted the ongoing threat of munitions in Angola, echoing Princess Diana's 1997 plea for a global ban on such weapons. Diana's original visit featured iconic images of her in protective gear walking through a minefield being cleared by the Halo Trust. Watch the video in full above.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
In the minefield of royal relationships, Harry hopes to have hit a turning point
The emotive photographs of Prince Harry walking through a minefield are reminiscent of a different time. For despite the groundswell of public resentment directed towards the King's younger son in recent years, his return to Angola is a reminder of the little boy who lost his mother and the man determined to honour her legacy. The last time Harry made this trip was in September 2019. He and Meghan were then still working members of the Royal family, if only hanging on by a thread. It came amid the couple's successful tour of southern Africa with their baby son, Archie. Harry remained firmly committed to his humanitarian and conservationist causes while his wife was making a name for herself as a champion of female empowerment and women's rights. But things soon fell apart. Within weeks the couple had decided to quit royal duties, prompting an extraordinary tug-of-war with the palace over the terms of their exit deal, the consequences of which still reverberate today. The Duke became known more for his whinging on television and podcasts than his charity work. Bitter and wounded, he was out to settle scores and he executed that mission to devastating effect. Behind the scenes, he continued to hold regular meetings with his remaining charity affiliations but the coronavirus pandemic put paid to any travel or public engagements. His daughter, Princess Lilibet, was born and he stepped back from his work to focus on his young family. Throughout the public focus has been, if not on the public airing of grievances, almost entirely on the Sussexes' five-year Netflix deal, their new Hollywood lives and this apparent shift towards making their fortune – or becoming 'financially independent'. Harry's many legal battles against the tabloid press also dominated the headlines and shaped public perceptions. Once one of the most popular members of the Royal family, his approval ratings plummeted. In March 2018, for example, Ipsos Mori polling recorded his popularity at 65 per cent favourable and 10 per cent unfavourable. By April this year, it was 26 per cent favourable and 47 per cent unfavourable. All but one of the Duke's High Court fights are now over, including a long-running, deeply personal mission to win back his right to automatic state-funded police protection. That fight was unsuccessful, although the issue remains a sticking point and one he still hopes to resolve. The BBC interview that followed his unsuccessful bid to overturn the ruling somehow morphed from a brief chat to a 30-minute stream of consciousness in which he railed against his father and complained of an 'establishment stitch-up', while also admitting he had no idea how long the King had left to live. Despite this, he expressed a clear desire for a rapprochement, saying, 'I would love reconciliation with my family.' The interview did nothing to curry favour at Buckingham Palace, where it was met with raised eyebrows and weary resignation. Even those close to the Duke recognised that it may not have been the smartest move. It was not as if there had been no warning. The hugely damaging allegations made by the Sussexes in their Oprah Winfrey interview of March 2021 have not been forgotten, similarly the revelations and indiscretions peppered throughout their three-part Netflix series, Harry & Meghan Wiser heads may now prevail. The Telegraph understands that television interviews are currently very much ruled out. Despite the furore prompted by those latest missiles fired via the TV cameras, the underlying sentiment was plain to see. Leaked secret meeting A little more than two months later, two of the Duke's most senior – and newly appointed – aides sat down for drinks with the King's communications director. The meeting was leaked, much to the frustration of all three protagonists, but the fact it had happened at all was revelatory. It was fortuitous then, that the next sighting of Harry was in Angola. The trip marks a return to a country that holds deep personal significance. It was a reminder of the man determined to follow in his mother's footsteps and campaign for change (just hours after landing in Luanda, he secured a three-year pledge for support from the Angolan government). The photographs of the Duke walking through a cleared path in Cuito Cuanavale, Africa's largest minefield, wearing protective equipment, drew inevitable comparisons with his late mother. That was the whole point. Harry met local families and children for whom the dangers of landmines still loom large 28 years after Diana, Princess of Wales, famously visited the country. 'Children should never have to live in fear of playing outside or walking to school,' he said. 'Here in Angola, over three decades later, the remnants of war still threaten lives every day.' The Duke travelled to the African country with the Halo Trust, the same charity with which his mother worked. Crucially, he made the trip without Meghan. Having made a virtue of being entwined at the hip throughout the first few years of their US adventure, the Sussexes concluded some time ago that they must focus on their own individual professional endeavours. For Harry, that has always been charity work. And continuing his mother's legacy is among the most important. The images of him surrounded by children and laughing with them harks back to the old days, when he was best known for his natural ability to engage and win hearts. Harry returns to the UK for a packed week of charity engagements in September. He will attend the annual WellChild Awards where he will again salute the 'little legends' living with serious illnesses, and attend meetings and events with a host of other organisations. His focus beyond then will remain on his charity work. While Meghan pursues commercial success selling jam and wine, he will plough on with the causes he cares about, perhaps taking on new ones too. The Birmingham 2027 Invictus Games may be some time away but will represent a significant moment for the Duke, requiring careful planning and diplomacy if he is to stand shoulder to shoulder with his father. There is a long, long way to go. But if he can keep his head down, this week's events could signal a turning point for Harry, professionally and personally.
CBS News
3 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Prince Harry walks through minefield in Angola, continuing Diana's advocacy
Prince Harry on Wednesday walked through a minefield in Angola, harkening back to Princess Diana's historic land mine walk 28 years ago. The Duke of Sussex visited Angola in southern Africa with the HALO Trust organization, the same group his late mother worked with when she went to Angola in January 1997, seven months before she was killed in a car crash in Paris. Diana's advocacy, along with images of her walking through a minefield, helped mobilize support for a land mine ban treaty that was ratified later that year. Harry walked through a land mine field near a village in Cuito Cuanavale in southern Angola that has been cleared by HALO Trust. He had visited the same area in 2013 when mines were still active, the charity said. It wasn't the first minefield in Angola Harry has walked through. He also donned the blue body armor of the HALO Trust in a field of land mines for an awareness campaign in 2019. Harry spoke to families on Wednesday who live near the minefield. "Children should never have to live in fear of playing outside or walking to school," he said. "Here in Angola, over three decades later, the remnants of war still threaten lives every day." The land mines across Angola were left behind from its 27-year civil war from 1975 to 2002. The HALO Trust says at least 60,000 people have been killed or injured by land mines since 2008. It says it has located and destroyed over 120,000 land mines and 100,000 other explosive devices in Angola since it started work in the country in 1994, but 1,000 minefields still need to be cleared.
