19 - Diana, Princess Of Wales: 'A Modern Tragedy And Its Consequences' (3)

Diana, Princess Of Wales: ‘A Modern Tragedy And Its Consequences’ (3)

There are said to be around 110 million mines lurking somewhere in the world - and over a third of them are to be found in Africa! Angola is probably more heavily mined than anywhere else, because the war went on for such a long time, and it invaded so much of the country. So that country is going to be infested with mines, and will suffer many more victims. And this brings me to one of the main conclusions I reached after this experience.

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.”

And so, it seems to me, there rests a certain obligation upon the rest of us.

One of my objectives in visiting Angola was to forward the cause of those, like the Red Cross, striving in the name of humanity to secure an international ban on these weapons.

Since them, we are glad to see, some real progress has been made. There are signs of a change of heart - at least in some parts of the world. For that we should be cautiously grateful. If an international ban on mines can be secured it means, looking far ahead, that the world may be a safer place for this generation’s grandchildren.

But for this generation in much of the developing world, there will be no relief, no relaxation The toll of deaths and injuries caused by mines already there, will continue.

This tracing and lifting of mines, as I saw in Angola, is a desperately slow business. So in my mind a central question remains. Should we not do more to quicken the de-miners’

work, to help the injured back to some sort of life, to further our own contribution to aid and development?

The country is enriched by the work done by its overseas agencies and nongovernmental organizations who work to help people in Africa and Asia to improve the quality of their lives. Yet mines cast a constant shadow over so much of this work.

Resettlement of refugees is made more hazardous. Good land is put out of bounds.

Recovery from war is delayed. Aid workers themselves are put at risk. I would like to see more done for those living in this “no man’s land” which lies between the wrongs of yesterday and the urgent needs of today.

I think we owe it. I also think it would be of benefit to us, as well as to them. The more expeditiously we can end this plague on earth caused by the landmine, the more readily can we set about the constructive tasks to which so many give their hand in the cause of humanity.