Prince Harry issues emotional plea asking people to ‘help me keep Diana’s pledge’ to rid world of landmines as Britain triples spending on fight
Harry continues his mother's crusade to rid the world of 'global scourge' as funding will clear the 'equivalent of 20,000 football pitches'
PRINCE Harry has issued an emotional plea, asking for people to help him keep his late mother's pledge to rid the world of landmines.
The royal spoke as it was announced Britain is tripling the amount of aid cash to fight landmines in a bid to rid the world of them by 2025.
International Development Secretary Priti Patel unveiled an extra £100m for the needy cause to mark International Mine Awareness Day.
The move comes after the 20th anniversary this year of Princess Diana’s famous walk through a minefield in Angola.
Harry has taken up his mother’s crusade, even working with HALO Trust to remove landmines in Mozambique.
Harry quoted his mother as he gave the keynote address at a Kensington Palace reception on International Mine Awareness Day, and recalled a vow she made to two young boys she met who suffered life-changing injuries.
He said: "As I mentioned earlier, in August 1997, my mother travelled to Bosnia with Ken Rutherford.
"When she was there she met two young boys, one Muslim, one Serbian, who had both lost legs to landmines. She shared their stories with the world, and helped campaigners, many of whom are in this room, to change history.
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"Those two young boys, Malic and Zarko, are now grown men and are with us today. Twenty years on, they both still struggle with their physical and emotional injuries and with the high costs of replacing their prosthetics.
"When my mother said goodbye to Zarko that August, just weeks before her untimely death, she told him he would not be forgotten.
"Please help me keep her word to Zarko and Malic, and other people like them throughout the world, who still need us to finish the job and rid the planet of landmines."
He added that if Diana was alive today she would not be willing to accept any credit for the fact the Ottawa treaty was signed by 122 states in the same year that she visited Angola and Bosnia.
Harry is continuing to champion Diana's cause, just months ahead of the 20th anniversary of her death.
Just months before she died in a car crash in 1997, Diana, wearing a protective visor and vest, walked through an Angolan mine field being cleared by the HALO Trust.
She spoke out against the sale and use of landmines and famously called for an international ban on the devices during her trip, which led to the then junior defence minister Earl Howe branding her "ill-informed" and a "loose cannon that Her Majesty's government did not need".
Recalling her words in a speech she gave two months before her death, Harry told those gathered: "In June 1997 at a seminar organised by Mines Advisory Group and the Landmine Survivors Network, my mother said in a speech - 'Even if the world decided tomorrow to ban these weapons, this terrible legacy of mines already in the earth would continue to plague the poor nations of the Globe. The evil that men do, lives after them...'"
Cabinet minister Ms Patel shared a stage with the 32-year-old Royal to make the new pledge.
The extra funds over the next three years will clear the equivalent of 20,000 football pitches, and save 800,000 people from the evil threat.
Heaping praise on Diana’s ground breaking work, Ms Patel described the devices as “a global scourge”.
Ms Patel added: “Global Britain has a historic role in tackling the indiscriminate and lethal legacy of landmines.
“That role was, of course, embodied by the efforts of His Royal Highness’ late Mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
“Twenty years ago she brought landmines to the world’s attention with her courageous walk through an Angolan mine field.”
In December this year, it will also be the 20th anniversary of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, signed by 128 countries to ban the use and production of anti-personnel mines.
The landmark moment was spurred on by Diana’s tragic death three months earlier.
Since Diana’s walk on January 15 1997, close to 30 countries have been declared mine-free.
But more than 60 million people still live with the daily fear of unexploded munitions.
A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “In the year marking the 20th anniversary of the Princess’s death, Prince Harry is
pleased to have this moment to recognise the significant contribution his mother made in this field, the progress which has been made by MAG (Mines Advisory Group), HALO, the UK Government and other organisations, and the opportunity to continue raising awareness of making the world landmine-free by 2025.”
'Her courage helped to bring countries together': A reflection on Diana's humanitarian work
By Major General James Cowan, CEO of the HALO Trust
WHEN Princess Diana bravely walked through a minefield in Angola 20 years ago, she was determined to show the world the plight of thousands of landmine victims. Her courage helped to bring countries together to sign the Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa later in 1997. Last night, Prince Harry recalled his mum’s distress at the young children who had lost arms and legs to landmines. As director of the HALO Trust, it is impossible not to feel angry that two decades later there 60 million people worldwide still living in fear of these terrible weapons. Although the Mine Ban Treaty has stopped their production, there are still thousands of stockpiles and minefields waiting to be cleared. And landmines are increasingly being replaced by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) across the Middle East and North Africa. Like Prince Harry, I am a former solider and have witnessed the devastation caused by IEDs on British troops and innocent men, women and children. Priti Patel’s announcement that the UK will contribute £100m for three years to help rid the world of mines and IEDs shows that she understands that peace can only start once the weapons of war have been dealt with. Clearing up mines and bombs helps people who were forced off their land by fighting to return home. It frees up valuable land for farming and cultivation. And it stops explosive material falling into the wrong hands, such as terrorists and extremists. This keeps all of us safer. The HALO Trust and our partner the Mines Advisory Group are two great British charities committed to making the world a safer place. Many people who work for us are ex-service men and women who put their lives at risk in some of the most dangerous places on earth. They also train local people to demine, providing employment to those who have lost everything. The Ottawa Treaty calls for the world’s most affected countries to be mine free by 2025. Both Prince Harry and Priti Patel showed the world last night that the UK is leading us towards reaching that goal. I can’t think of a better way to honour Diana’s memory.