Admin l Friday, July 13, 2016
ANGOLA – Even in death, the late Princess of Wales, Princess Diana has continued to impact positively on the lives of many she left behind.
Princess Diana died 31, August, 1997. But few months before, specifically on January 15, 1997, she visited a minefield in Angola when HALO staff were in the process of clearing it and that cisit instantly brought global awareness to the landmine issue in Angola.
However, 20 years later, the minefield where Diana walked has become a thriving community with housing, a carpentry workshop, a small college and a school.
Where lies the magicI? Halo in partnership with donors has been able to destroy more than 92,000 landmines and 162,000 shells, missiles and bombs in Angola and cleared 800 minefields.
Today, Huambo, Angola is free of landmine, thanks to Halo trust. But the organisation believes that most of the cities in Angola have been cleared but that the rural areas remain heavily mined.
“In September eight people from the same family were killed near Kuito, a town visited by Diana, when a child brought an anti-tank mine into his home. Another child was killed and a further two suffered amputations after encountering an unexploded mortar in Huambo City, only a few kilometres from where the princess visited”, the organisation said, stressing that the slow progress of Angola clearance contrasts with that of Mozambique, which was finally declared free of mines in 2015 after 22 years of work by HALO and other operators.
James Cowan, CEO of HALO said: ‘The world cannot turn its back on Angola now that Mozambique has shown us what can be done with the right commitment and determination.
“All people deserve to be free of the debris of war: its removal is the first step towards regrowth, development and peace. Yet 20 years after Diana’s visit to Angola, children are still being killed and maimed by mines. 2017 is the year to re-focus, re-energise and finish the job. Together the world can achieve the Ottawa Treaty’s vision of a mine-free world.’
