Appearing, once again, to present themselves as an alternative royal family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will make a very stately visit to Nigeria next week.
Invited by the West African nation’s highest-ranking military officer, the Chief of the Defense Staff, Prince Harry and Meghan are guaranteed to receive the kind of security they expected British taxpayers to provide.
As you may recall, Harry sought a judicial review of the Home Office’s decision to strip him, Meghan and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, of their automatic right to police security in Britain after they decided to leave his royal duties and seek his fortune on the other side of the Atlantic.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their royal tour of South Africa in 2019
King Charles’ youngest son lost the case in February, with the action estimated to have cost him around £1m, including his own legal costs and those owed to the Home Office.
There will be no such worries for Harry and Meghan next week, when the security bill will be footed by the government of Nigeria, a country where an estimated 87 million people live below the poverty line.
Why do they make the trip? The duke appears to have struck up a conversation with defense chief General Christopher Gwabin Musa during September’s Invictus Games in Dusseldorf.
No one questions the good work of the Games, Harry’s Paralympic-style initiative for wounded military men and women, which are a scheduled topic for discussion on the trip to Nigeria.
The visit will no doubt also be good for Brand Sussex and will highlight what the couple could have achieved for the Commonwealth if they had stayed with the Windsors.
The Sussexes had been given key roles working with young people through the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust before they decided to step back from royal duties.
But I wonder if Harry’s time in Africa could be better spent addressing a scandal at a charity involving abuse allegations.
African Parks, a conservation charity of which he is a director, faces further allegations of human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings and violent beatings.
Allegations of brutality by rangers jointly run by the charity first emerged in January, when a front-page report in The Mail on Sunday revealed claims that armed guards had beaten, raped and tortured the Baka tribe in the Republic of Congo.
The charity, which manages reserves in 12 African countries (although not Nigeria), is a sizeable undertaking.
Claiming to save wildlife by working with local communities, African Parks helps manage 1,400 guards who patrol protected lands nearly the size of Britain.
Harry, who was president for six years until joining the governing board last year, has been effusive in his praise, previously saying: “The African Parks model is exactly what conservation should be about: putting the people at the center of the solution.’
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle take selfies with fans during the Invictus Games Dusseldorf in Germany last September, where they engaged in conversation with Chief of the Defense Staff General Christopher Gwabin Musa.
But in March, The Mail on Sunday uncovered new allegations of brutality by rangers, this time in Zambia’s Bangweulu wetlands, including reports of extrajudicial killings and violent beatings.
The wetlands, a conservation area almost the size of Devon, are home to 50,000 indigenous people who have the right to “sustainably harvest” natural resources such as fish, antelope and rabbits.
According to Fiore Longo, campaign director for Survival International, which fights for the rights of indigenous peoples: “This is another case of abuse and violence supposedly in the name of conservation.”
His group wrote to Harry last year about the “appalling human rights abuses” in Congo’s Odzala-Kokoua National Park.
At the time, Harry’s spokesperson said he had “immediately escalated” the allegations to the president and CEO of African Parks.
There is no indication that Harry was aware of the allegations about what happened in Zambia.
Responding to this, the charity said: “While there have been incidents which we condemn, to suggest that African Parks is responsible for structural misconduct in the area would be disingenuous.”
Perhaps, on his next visit abroad, Harry could consider spending some time in the Bangweulu Wetlands in Zambia and see for himself. The accusations are extremely serious.
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