ICRC Delegates Research Articles

An appeal by the International Committee

Due to the events affecting the civilian population in the Yemen, and as certain press and radio circles have ascribed to ICRC delegates in the Sear East statements which they have never made, and which were quite unfounded, the ICRC launched the following appeal on January 30, 1967.

Vietnam—Yemen—Laos—Nigeria—Venezuela—Latin America—Hungary—Germany

The International Committee of the Red Cross has continued its exchange of correspondence with the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on various humanitarian problems raised by the present conflict. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi has declared that it could not accept the proposal made by the United States to hold a conference in order to examine ways of applying the Geneva Conventions, a proposal which had been transmitted by the ICRC. The same ministry has acknowledged receiving various communications from the ICRC, in particular the nominal roll of 19 North Vietnamese seamen captured by the US Navy in the Gulf of Tonkin and the two reports drawn up following on visits made to these seamen by ICRC delegates.

News Items

Mr. Marcel Boisard, ICRC delegate, paid a visit to the Red Crescent hospital at Cairo, where he met Dr. Galal Moussa, head of the orthopaedic section.

International Committee's action in the Yemen

There has been a recent intensification of military operations in various parts of the Yemen where the civil war continues between the Republican Government of Sanaa and the Imam El Badr, entrenched in the mountains which are difficult of access. This situation accentuates the importance of the task assumed by the International Committee of the Red Cross whose medical personnel sent to the spot is caring for the largest possible number of victims. Conditions of work, in view of the seasonal oppressive heat, are extremely hard, but the ICRC delegates are none the less continuing their mission of which the present events demonstrate the absolute necessity.

International Committee's action in Cyprus

In a very tense atmosphere, the ICRC delegates are pursuing their activity in Cyprus on behalf of the victims of events and particularly of hostages held by both sides.

News Items

After having completed his mission, Mr. Jacques de Heller, ICRC delegate, returned, from Algeria after visiting some fifty Moroccans held captive by the Algerian forces following the frontier conflict in the autumn of 1963.

Mission to the Near East

The Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mr. Samuel Gonard, returned on February 10 to Geneva, after a four week tour in the Middle East. He visited the ICRC delegations in Saudi Arabia and in the Yemen and in particular inspected the field hospital at Uqhd in the North of the Yemen, where wounded and sick victims of the war from both sides are cared for.

News Items

The General Delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross for Sub-Equatorial Africa, Mr. Georges Hoffmann, went to Luanda, the capital of Angola, where he was given a cordial welcome. He was accompanied by Colonel J. V. M. Cabral, Secretary-General of the Portuguese Red Cross, which greatly facilitated both his journey and his contacts. The ICRC delegate discussed various humanitarian problems of common interest with Colonel Cabral and with the authorities. He went to five delegations of the Portuguese Red Cross in Angola, where he visited hospitals, crèches and homes.Thus, Mr. Hoffmann was able himself to judge the activity carried out by the Portuguese Red Cross in Angola. After visiting Luanda, he left for Lobito and Benguela.

Mission of the International Committee in three islands in the Indian Ocean

The ICRC delegate in Sub-Equatorial Africa, Mr. G. Hoffmann, went some time ago to Mauritius, Reunion and Madagascar. He was warmly welcomed by officials and by the leaders of the Red Cross Societies in these three islands. He was able to observe at first hand the humanitarian work accomplished in these regions and the Red Cross spirit which is very much alive in that part of the world, in countries which, by reason of their geographical position, may seem especially prone to isolation. We therefore believe it interesting to summarize, from the information supplied by the ICRC delegate, some of the activities carried out by the Red Cross in these countries.

News Items

The International Committee of the Red Cross effected a second visit to the camp of Deoli, in the State of Rajasthan, where the Indian Government, following on the conflict with China, had interned a certain number of Chinese nationals resident in its territory. Mr. Max Stalder, ICRC Delegate, went there on June 25, 1963, where he saw 924 internees, of whom about 300 were on the point of being repatriated to China. He was accompanied by Mr. B. Singh-Paul, delegate of the Indian Red Cross.We would recall that, on December 12, 1962, Mr. Andre Durand, general delegate of the ICRC for Asia, had paid a first visit to that camp.

News Items

Twenty Chinese fishermen from Hainan in the Tonkin Golf, reported missing and later found in Da Nang (formerly named Tourane, in the centre of Vietnam), are now on their way to their own country. The Chinese Red Cross in Peking had asked the ICRC to try and find the men. The ICRC delegate was given permission to visit them by the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. As their boat was no longer seaworthy when they reached the Vietnam coast, the ICRC delegate secured a junk for them. It is on board this craft that they are now going back to China.

News Items

The search for missing persons in the Orientale and Kivu provinces. — A member of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Congo, Mr. Georges Olivet, has just carried out a mission lasting more than a month in the Orientale and Kivu Provinces with the object of continuing searches for persons missing as a result of the events which took place last year. This consisted of clearing up more than a hundred cases for which enquiries had been made and to which the ICRC delegation in Leopoldville had not yet been able to reply.

The ICRC visits places of detention in France

Continuing an activity which the ICRC first undertook over two years ago, ICRC Delegates have recently completed a series of eighteen visits to places of detention for Algerians in France.

The Red Cross medical action in the Congo

The Red Cross medical teams in the Congo, which now include more than 35 doctors, are continuing their work courageously in conditions which are sometimes difficult. Several of the teams are working in remote areas and are almost cut off from the outside world. Nevertheless, in most cases, the ICRC Delegation is able to send them the equipment and medicaments they need, should other means of transport be lacking, by chartering private aircraft. A donation of the British Red Cross made it possible to purchase and dispatch a quantity of medicaments of which the teams were in need