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 Queen Elizabeth's grandson and sixth in line to the throne
visited a de-mining field outside Dirico, a town in Angola's
Cuando Cubango province, where, wearing a safety vest, he
remotely detonated a mine in a controlled explosion. He also met
community members.
"This minefield here in Luengue-Luiana National Park is the
first of 153 that will be cleared in the two national parks of
South Eastern Angola," Harry said in a speech.
The Angolan government has pledged $60 million to the
initiative, with British charity the HALO Trust carrying out the
work.
"Later today I will visit Huambo to see the place where my
mother walked through a minefield in 1997. Once heavily mined,
the second city of Angola is now safe," Harry added.
The pictures of Diana wearing protective gear as she walked
among red skull-and-crossbone signs in Huambo won publicity for
the HALO Trust, which was clearing mines left during Angola's
civil war.
They were taken a few months before her death in Paris in a car
crash.
Harry's visit to Angola is part of a southern African trip by
him, his wife Meghan and their four-month-old son Archie. Their
first overseas tour as a family began in South Africa on Monday.
They drew crowds of well-wishers on their first three days in
Cape Town, where they visited non-governmental organizations
working with vulnerable communities and young people and met
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu.
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While Meghan and Archie stayed in South Africa, Harry headed to
Botswana on Thursday.
In June, he threw his weight behind mine clearance efforts in
Angola, saying land mines were "a humanitarian issue and not a
political one."
The landmines were planted during Angola's 27-year civil war,
which ended in 2002. Many people remain displaced and thousands
have been left with disabilities from landmines which continue
to maim and kill.
Harry, 35, has been visiting southern Africa for two decades for
holidays and conservation work.
He ends the solo section of his tour on Tuesday in Malawi, where
he will meet President Peter Mutharika and pay tribute at the
memorial site for British soldier Guardsman Mathew Talbot, who
was killed in May while taking part in counter poaching
operations in the country.
Harry will then rejoin Meghan and Archie in South Africa for a
township visit on Wednesday near Johannesburg. They will meet
Graca Machel, widow of South African anti-apartheid leader
Nelson Mandela, and President Cyril Ramaphosa before departing
for London.
(Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Marie-Louise Gumuchian;
editing by Mike Collett-White)
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