About 20 years ago, on August 10, 1997, Diana, Princess of Vels, met with victims of mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of her campaign to draw attention to the global problem of unexploded ordnance.
The British Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel license although they considered security implications.
Princess Diana spent three days in BiH and visited victims in several cities in BiH, and offered them her support and hope in a better tomorrow.
Unfortunately, that visit to our country was the last humanitarian visit of the favorite princess because she died in a traffic accident in Paris just twenty days later.
Princess Diana did not want to meet with politicians during her visit to BiH, and she described her visit as a “totally private”. She wanted to visit homes of mine victims and meet with local associations of disabled war veterans and specialists for rehabilitation.
The princess had a surprise on the second day of her visit – a birthday present for a man who was injured by a mine. Muhamed Soljankic lost his foot back in 1994 and Princess Diana gifted him a prosthetic foot that he could not afford.
Lady Di met with several more victims in several cities in BiH. She met an ex-soldier Franjo Kresic, who lost both legs to the knee because of mines.
Later that day, Diana visited the Center for Mine Removal in the barracks Marsal Tito in Sarajevo. They prepared a special program for the princess, and SFOR soldiers around the barracks said that she was very relaxed and happy.
(Source: Radiosarajevo.ba)
