CNN
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Prince Harry traveled to Angola earlier this week to meet the country’s president almost 30 years after his mother’s memorable visit to South African countries.
According to the international NGO of Halo Trust, the Duke of Sussex shared his audience’s vision of a “landmines-free country” with Angola President Joan Lourenzo on Tuesday.
“We thanked him (Harry) for his extraordinary dedication and investment in the vision of a landmine-free country, and he expressed his intention to continue supporting our work with even more important contracts for the next three years,” James Cohan, CEO of the nonprofit, said in a statement.
Princess Diana advocated clearance for landmine 28 years ago when she visited Juambo, a city in central Angolan.
Images of Diana, one of the world’s most famous people, are believed to be able to mobilize public opinion on deadly devices, as she walks a path that has been made clear in a lively minefield.
Foreign and national actors killed and wounded thousands of people in the bloody battle for independence from Portugal, and the Civil War of 1975-2002, scattered the fields, villages and towns of decades of battle in Angola.
Human rights agencies repeatedly called for a ban on international treaties on landmines that came into effect several months before Diana’s death in August 1997. In September 2019, Harry followed his mother’s footsteps along the minefields of Juambo.
According to the Halo Trust, around 88,000 Angolans were victims of the landmine. But the burning effect of that brutal legacy is still felt today.
In 2019, the mother of an 8-year-old landmine survivor recalled her sadness over the death of her 10-year-old nephew Frederico, who was killed after the two boys were playing football.
The explosion seriously injured his son Manuel, and the child amputated his leg. “The war ended a long time ago,” Hermelinda told CNN at the time.
“A lot of people pass by that place. There are always a lot of people there. They never found it,” she said. “We had to do it the day the kids were there.”
