Harry says his mother would want Angola to ‘finish job’ of clearing landmines

The Duke of Sussex has backed the push to complete clearing landmines in Angola, saying his late mother would want campaigners to “finish this particular job”.

Harry was speaking at an event in New York on Monday for The Halo Trust, the landmine clearance charity supported by his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly.

The late princess was escorted through a cleared minefield in Angola by the trust in 1997 during the country’s civil war, a visit which prompted the signing of an anti-personnel landmine ban in Ottawa after her death later that year.

Harry retraced her steps in 2019 when the Angolan government announced a 60 million dollar (£45 million) investment in clearing mines, work he praised during his speech.

“The Halo Trust’s work in Angola meant a great deal to my mother,” he said.

“Carrying on her legacy is a responsibility that I take seriously.

“I think we all know how much she would want us to finish this particular job.”

The Halo Trust said up to 88,000 people may have suffered life-changing injuries from mines in Angola during and after the civil war, which raged from 1975 to 2002.

The duke said Angola, under President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco, had set the “gold standard” for their commitment to demining their country.

“This goes beyond just numbers, mines cleared and money allocated,” he said. “It’s about actual lives and actual progress.

“Africa, and Angola in particular, has an incredibly young population.

“For them, a world without mines must be a moral imperative for all of us.”

During the event, Harry met Angola’s Minister of External Relations Tete Antonio, who said demining had made a “tremendous impact” on making land safe, unlocking investment and reuniting “fractured communities” in the 30 years the government had been working with the Halo Trust.

Mr Antonio said: “Landmines continue to restrict access to agricultural land, which complicates our ability to develop large areas of the country and dissuades ecotourists from visiting.

“But that doesn’t mean we don’t have the potential, thanks to demining, to start exploiting such opportunities.”

Earlier on Monday, Harry joined two winners of the Diana Legacy Award on stage to discuss the global mental health crisis facing young people.

The duke told how his mother would have been proud of Chiara Riyanti Hutapea Zhang, 18, from Indonesia, and Christina Williams, 27, from Jamaica, and the work of the charity set up in her memory, which this year marks its 25th anniversary.

He also appeared at a private engagement with conservation group African Parks on Monday.

On Tuesday, he will continue to champion causes associated with his mother when he is one of the star guests, alongside former US president Bill Clinton, discussing finding solutions to global challenges.

Harry will join Mr Clinton, the former president’s daughter Chelsea Clinton, World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, US broadcaster Katie Couric, and primatologist Jane Goodall at a session called Everything Everywhere All At Once at the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting.

Other events on Tuesday see the duke focus on Lesotho, the impoverished southern African country where he set up his Sentebale charity to support Aids orphans, and the Travalyst organisation, which aims to encourage the tourism sector to become more sustainable.

A trip to the UK also beckons with the duke attending the WellChild annual awards next Monday.