The threat of landmines could be eradicated in the next five years in Sri Lanka, if funding can be sustained, Britain’s Prince Harry said during a tour of the US promoting the work of the anti-landmine charity the Halo Trust.

“At any one time, Halo has seven thousand de-miners in the field, striving to protect people, and banish the fear that pervades the lives of millions around the world,” he was quoted as saying by AP.

Prince Harry stated that in Sri Lanka, Mozambique, Kosovo, in Somalia, Georgia and Armenia, the threat of landmines could be eradicated in the next five years, if funding can be sustained.

“If it were stepped up, in the next 10 years, countries like Cambodia, Angola, Colombia, Afghanistan, Burma and even Zimbabwe might have their landmine crises eliminated for good,” he said, giving a speech in support of the Halo Trust at a British embassy reception attended by US policy-makers, supporters of the anti-landmine charity and potential donors.

The royal, who is patron of the trust’s 25th anniversary appeal, told the guests: “My mother, who believed passionately in this cause, would be proud of my association with Halo. In her special way, she adopted it as her own. She would join me - along with all of you, I’m sure - in praising Halo for the amazing work that it has done over the past quarter century, and in hoping that one day soon its humanitarian work will be done.”