Prince Harry Revisits Land Mine Legacy as Nations Consider Renewed Utilization

Prince Harry retraced Princess Diana's path, shedding light on the dangers of land mines amidst alarming withdrawals from international disarmament treaties.

 

In a powerful remembrance of his mother's groundbreaking efforts, Prince Harry journeyed through a partially cleared minefield in Cuito Cuanavale, Angola, this past Wednesday. In 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, famously brought global attention to the harrowing effects of land mines while traversing a similar area during Angola's civil war. This moment shared profound significance as countries around the world face renewed interest in deploying these controversial weapons.

The visit saw Harry walk through an area now deemed safer due to ongoing clearance work by The Halo Trust, a British non-profit dedicated to mine clearance. He had previously visited in 2019, when he honored his mother's legacy in another part of the same region, now transformed into inhabitable spaces for communities.

Currently, the stakes are high as several nations have announced their intention to withdraw from the United Nations convention banning antipersonnel land mines, following a surge in regional security concerns due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania disclosed their decision to exit the treaty, citing an urgent need to assess their national defense strategies. Finland is also poised to follow suit shortly. Observers fear the potential resurgence of land mines on active battlefields, notably Ukraine, where their usage has already been noted.

The Halo Trust reported that Angola has witnessed over 60,000 land mine-related fatalities or injuries since 2008, emphasizing that despite de-mining operations, the threat remains pervasive. In the last five years alone, 80 deaths from land mines have been recorded, illustrating the dire need for continued vigilance against these indiscriminate explosives.