The Duke of Sussex retraced his late mother Princess Diana's footsteps on Friday, as he visited a partially cleared minefield in Angola on day five of the royal tour. Prince Harry donned body armour and a protective visor for the engagement, which was to highlight the ongoing threat of the munitions in Angola, the same nation Diana visited in 1997 to urge the world to ban the weapons.
WATCH: Prince Harry detonates a landmine in Angola
The 36-year-old walked into an area that was once an artillery base for anti-government forces who had mined the position in 2000 before retreating. He was learning about the efforts of Halo Trust staff working to clear large areas of the country of military munitions.
Prince Harry visited a partially cleared minefield in Angola on Friday
Jose Antonio, a regional manager for the landmine clearance charity the Halo Trust, took Harry onto the site where his staff have been working since August to make it safe, and where they hope they can complete their clearance by the end of October. The Duke walked through an area of the site looking at the marked off areas which potentially could contain landmines. An anti-personnel mine had been discovered earlier and Harry was asked to set it off with a controlled explosion to safely destroy the decades-old weapon.
The Duke visited Angola on day 5 of the royal tour
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The engagement comes 22 years after Prince Harry's late mother walked through a partially cleared minefield in the African nation, with the photos of her visit quickly becoming iconic. But Harry won’t be recreating that famous image – the area that was once a dangerous minefield in 1997 is now a busy street with schools, shops and houses.
The area Princess Diana visited in 1997 is now a thriving street
Prince Harry will have the opportunity to see the same area she visited to see how it has thrived since the landmines were cleared. It is sure to be a poignant visit for the Duke, as his mother never saw her work to help outlaw mines come to fruition as she died in August 1997 a few months before the international treaty to ban the military weapons was signed.
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