CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Prince Harry visited the African nation of Angola on Tuesday with a land mine clearing charity, repeating a famous trip his mother made in 1997.
Harry, the Duke of Sussex, met with Angolan President João Lourenço on Tuesday at the start of his trip, according to a statement from the Halo Trust, an organization that works to clear land mines from old warzones.
Princess Diana visited Angola with the Halo Trust in January 1997, just seven months before she was killed in a Paris car crash. Diana was famously photographed on that trip wearing protective equipment and walking through an active minefield during a break in fighting in Angola's long civil war.
Her advocacy helped mobilize support for a treaty banning land mines later that year.
This is not the first time Harry has followed in his mother's footsteps by raising awareness for the Halo Trust's work. He also visited the southern African country in 2019 for a land mine clearing project. British media reported that Harry traveled to Angola this week without his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
Halo Trust CEO James Cowan said in a statement Tuesday that he and Harry met with Lourenço to discuss continued demining efforts in Angola and thanked the president for his support for that work.
Angola was torn apart by a 27-year civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 2002, with some brief and fragile periods of peace in between.
The Halo Trust says there are estimates that around 80,000 Angolans have been killed or injured by land mines during and after the war, although there are no exact figures. The organization says just over 1,000 minefields covering an estimated 67 square kilometers (26 square miles) still needed to be cleared at the end of 2024.
Angola had set itself a goal to be land mine-free by 2025.
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Gerald Imray, The Associated Press
