Prince Harry retraces Diana’s footsteps in Angola landmine area

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – Britain’s Prince Harry walked in the footsteps of his late mother, Diana, through Angola’s de-mining sites on Friday, the fifth day of his trip to Africa.

Harry visited a landmine detonation field in the town of Dirico in collaboration with British charity Halo Trust.

Dressed in a blue splinter vest, he personally helped to destroy one of the mines that have remained in the southern African nation’s soil after 25 years of civil strife.

During his three-day stay in Angola, the Duke of Sussex visited the northern city of Huambo, where an iconic picture was taken of Princess Diana in 1997 in which she walked through a minefield.

“It has been emotional retracing my mother’s steps along this street 22 years on,” said Prince Harry about Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

“Being here on this transformed and bustling street – the site where my mother once walked through a live minefield – shows the tremendous impact that clearing landmines has on communities and their futures,” he added.

Prince Harry called on the international community to redouble its efforts in Angola, where more than 1,000 minefields have not yet been cleared.

The Duke of Sussex spoke about how, typically, the most vulnerable are at greatest risk, and how thousands of parents in Angola have to choose between cultivating mine-infested land or letting their families starve.

“Let us consign these weapons to the history books, for good,” he said.

On Thursday, Harry visited Botswana to help 200 children plant new trees in the Chobe Forest Reserve to combat climate change.

Harry is on a 10-day visit to southern Africa, together with wife Meghan Markle and their 4-month-old son, Archie – who have remained behind in South Africa.

Harry will travel to Malawi after Angola and then reunite with Meghan in South Africa on Oct. 1, a day before they wrap up their trip in Johannesburg.