Today Prince Harry retraced his mother’s footsteps in the central Angolan town of Huambo and called on the international community to consign landmines to the history books.
The landmines have now been cleared in this town where Princess Diana was famously photographed, and what was once a dirt path next to a live minefield is today a busy community with homes, shops and a paved road.
Here the Duke of Sussex met staff from the three main landmine-clearance charities in Angola – MAG, the HALO Trust, and Norwegian People’s Aid – including MAG’s Cidalia Chiputa, and Francisca Kazumba.
Prince Harry said:
“It has been quite emotional retracing my mother’s steps on this street, 22 years on and to see the transformation that has taken place from an unsafe and desolate area into a vibrant community of local businesses and colleges.
“This is wonderful example how UK partnership with Angola can address the issue of landmines bringing prosperity to an area, creating jobs, helping people access healthcare and making areas safer.
“The work of demining is expensive, dangerous and laborious and I have the utmost admiration and respect for all those who risk their lives and do this work in service of their country
“I am incredibly proud as I know my mother would have been at the role that the UK has played in this transformation through funding and the expertise brought by UK specialist organisations like Halo Trust and the Mines Advisory Group.”
It has been quite emotional retracing my mother’s steps on this street, 22 years on and to see the transformation that has taken place from an unsafe and desolate area into a vibrant community of local businesses and colleges.
This is wonderful example how UK partnership with Angola can address the issue of landmines bringing prosperity to an area, creating jobs, helping people access healthcare and making areas safer.
The work of demining is expensive, dangerous and laborious and I have the utmost admiration and respect for all those who risk their lives and do this work in service of their country
I am incredibly proud as I know my mother would have been at the role that the UK has played in this transformation through funding and the expertise brought by UK specialist organisations like Halo Trust and the Mines Advisory Group.
Prince Harry
Forty years of conflict from 1961 to 2002 left Angola strewn with an estimated one million landmines and many more unexploded bombs.
Today, over 88,000 Angolans are living with disabilities due to landmine injuries and hundreds of thousands more are stuck in landmine-related poverty, unable to use their land. The majority of victims reported over the last five years have been children.
MAG has been working in Angola for 25 years. In the last decade alone, with the support of our donors and the Angolan government, MAG has cleared more than 10 million square metres of minefields for communities—the equivalent of 1,400 football pitches.
Support from international governments for landmine clearance has now helped two generations of Angolans reclaim land stolen by weapons of a past wars. But international funding for Angola has slumped by nearly 90 per cent in the last decade, despite a global commitment to rid the world of landmines by 2025.
“A staggering 60 million people around the world still live in fear and risk of landmines, we cannot turn our backs on them and leave a job half done,” Prince Harry continued.
“Let’s finish what was started and in partnership with landmine clearance organisations, community leaders and private supporters redouble our efforts.
“Let us consign these weapons to the history books for good.”
We are calling on the public and leaders to get behind the Landmine Free 2025 campaign to ensure they are not forgotten. Read more about the campaign here: landminefree2025.org
