ICRC Delegates Research Articles

Chad

In Chad, the ICRC delegation continued efforts to gain access to Libyan prisoners of war held by the Hissène Habré government, and also carried out orthopaedic and dissemination work.

Pakistan

In 1990, as in the previous year, ICRC delegates based in Pakistan carried out missions across the border into Afghanistan. They reached the provinces of Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, Wardak, Logar, Badakhshan, Takhar, Parwan, Kapisa, Helmand, Uruzgan, Kandahar, Nimroz, and Zabul. They also carried out joint missions with delegates from Afghanistan (see under Afghanistan). In June, they managed, for the first time, to enter the city of Kandahar, where they established contacts, took stock of humanitarian needs and brought support for the local medical infrastructure. Later in the year, following other missions, they also opened a first-aid post in the city for evacuation of wounded civilians to the ICRC hospital in Quetta (since the civilian hospital in Kandahar had been destroyed).

Bulgaria

Following the visit of an ICRC delegation in November, the ICRC launched a programme contributing to the development of the operational capacity of the Bulgarian Red Cross and set up several projects to promote international humanitarian law.

Emanuel Christen and Elio Erriquez released

Emanuel Christen and Elio Erriquez, the two ICRC orthopaedic technicians abducted while on their way to work in Sidon, Lebanon, on 6 October 1989, were released on 8 and 13 August 1990 respectively after 307 and 312 days of captivity.Both delegates followed the same path to freedom. They were handed over to Syrian forces in Lebanon and then transferred to Damascus where, in the presence of the head of the ICRC's delegation in the Syrian capital, they were entrusted to the care of the Swiss embassy. From Damascus a special aircraft chartered by the ICRC brought them back to Switzerland, where they were welcomed by their families, by Mr. René Felber, head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and by ICRC President Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga.

Africa — Latin America — Asia — Middle East

On 13 March, the ICRC delegation was able to resume the assistance which had been suspended in the region of Soroti since mid-January. Under the agricultural programme, some 125,000 people who could no longer produce enough food for their needs were given hoes, bean seed (200 tonnes) and sorghum seed (100 tonnes). Relief distributions to displaced civilians in the Gulu district, interrupted on 10 March, were resumed in mid-April. Food, blankets, soap and kitchen utensils were given to some 10,000 people.

Pan-African Conference of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Dakar, 21–23 November 1988)

The Pan-African Conference of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies took place in Dakar from 21 to 23 November 1988 under the chairmanship of the President of the Senegalese Red Cross, Mrs. Siga Seye Coulibaly. It was attended by representatives of 40 African and 12 other National Societies, of the League and of the ICRC.The ICRC delegation was composed of Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga, President; Mr. Yves Sandoz, Director of the Department of Principles, Law and Relations with the Movement; Mr. Thierry Germond, responsible for the regional delegations in Africa; Mr. Friedrich Steinemann, as future regional delegate in Lagos; and Mrs. Marguerite Contat, regional delegate in Lomé.

Africa — Latin America — Asia — Middle East

During the final months of 1987 the ICRC gradually managed to overcome the numerous logistic difficulties it had encountered; its aid programme, conducted together with the National Society, went as planned. Thus, by the end of 1987, ICRC delegates were working as normal in 51 areas throughout 41 districts in seven of the country's ten provinces. From the beginning of 1988 onwards their activities should increase in the province of Manica and in the Inhambane region.

Africa — Latin America — Asia — Europe — Middle East/North Africa

The seed distribution programme (mainly maize, sorghum and soya beans) had started off well in September, the plan being to assist some 100,000 displaced civilians in the provinces of Huambo and Bié, but the work was interrupted by a tragic plane crash on 14 October. The aircraft was a Hercules transport plane chartered by the ICRC in Switzerland, and it crashed soon after take-off, about 40 km from Kuito. There were no survivors among the four crew members—two Irish, Dorian Shone, the Captain, and Kevin Tocknell; one British, Nicholas Duff; and one New Zealander, Gary Heap—or among the passengers—one Angolan, Nuno Ferreira, and the Swiss secretary of the ICRC delegation in Kuito, Miss Catherine Chappuis.

Africa — Latin America — Asia — Europe — Middle-East/North Africa

In May the Ethiopian Government authorized the ICRC delegation in Addis Ababa to resume in part its activities in northern Ethiopia, where the ICRC's assistance operation had had to be suspended in December 1986 by order of the Ethiopian authorities.

Africa — Latin America — Asia — Middle East and North Africa

Following the decision reached on 28 October by the Twenty-fifth International Conference of the Red Cross to suspend the South African government delegation from participation in its work, the ICRC was requested by the South African authorities to suspend its activities in South Africa and to leave the country at the latest by 30 November. The ICRC delegates based in South Africa therefore made the necessary arrangements to close down the delegation and return to Geneva by that date.

ICRC President Carries Out Mission in Rabat

ICRC President Alexandre Hay, accompanied by the ICRC Delegate General for the Middle East and North Africa, travelled to Rabat on 28 June to have talks with King Hassan II of Morocco on humanitarian issues related to the Western Sahara conflict.After preliminary discussions with Foreign Affairs Minister Filali, Mr. Skalli, who was formerly Ambassador in Geneva and is now the head of the political department at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, and other Moroccan government officials, Mr. Hay was received by the King in the company of the Foreign Affairs Minister and a high ranking Army officer.

ICRC delegate killed in Angola

The ICRC learned with great sorrow of the death of Mr. Marc Blaser, a radio operator in Angola, on 16 December 1985.Twenty-one years old and single, Marc Blaser went to Angola in October 1985 on his first mission for the ICRC. In the evening of 16 December, while in the neighbourhood of Lobito, he was killed in an armed attack. An inquiry is in progress to determine the exact circumstances of this tragic incident.Although he had only recently joined the institution, Marc Blaser was highly thought of by all his colleagues for his good nature and his competence. The ICRC is grieved by the loss of this young delegate and has expressed to his parents and friends its profound sympathy.

Missions by the President of the ICRC

The President of the ICRC, Mr. Alexandre Hay, accompanied by Mrs. Hay and Mr. F.-P. Küng, ICRC Delegate General for Europe and North America, spent 7 and 8 June in Liechtenstein. On 8 June, they attended the Annual General Meeting of the Liechtenstein Red Cross, which marked that Society's fortieth anniversary. It was a rather special and not unemotional occasion, as Princess Gina, the President of the National Society, officially resigned her office in favour of Princess Maria-Aglaë.

An ICRC delegate killed in Sudan

The ICRC has learned, with deep sorrow, of the sudden death of Mr Michel Zufferey, delegate to Sudan, in a road accident on 5 January 1985.Michel Zufferey, 40 years old, unmarried, joined the ICRC in 1972. He undertook his first mission in Bangladesh, and then was posted successively to Angola, Lebanon, Israel, Pakistan and Chad. He started his mission in Sudan on 22 January 1983.Michel Zufferey, having spent over twelve years in the service of the ICRC, made many lasting friendships, and his death is profoundly regretted by the whole organisation. The ICRC extended to his parents and friends its deepest sympathy and condolences.

External activities: Africa — Latin America — Asia — Middle East

From 5 to 11 September, Mr. Jean-Marc Bornet, the ICRC delegate-general for Africa carried out a mission to Kenya. He had discussions in Nairobi with the heads of the ICRC delegations in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Sudan, and Uganda, in order to set the objectives of ICRC activities in the countries of the Horn of Africa for 1985.

Africa—Latin America—Asia—Middle East

On 26 April, 89 persons (19 children and 70 adults) held by UNITA were released and handed over to a group of ICRC delegates in southern Angola. The group of persons released consisted of 68 Portuguese, 16 Filipinos, one Japanese, one Spaniard, one Italian, one Brazilian and one Pole; eight of them were missionaries.

Africa — Latin America — Asia — Middle East

On 30 June, the ICRC, acting as a neutral intermediary at the request of all the interested parties, arranged for 55 persons held by UNITA (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) to leave Angola on board an aircraft chartered for the purpose. This group consisted of 45 Czechoslovaks (including 38 women and children) and 10 Portuguese citizens; they had all been taken prisoner in March at Alto Catumbela, near the country's Atlantic coast. The Portuguese citizens were handed over to their diplomatic representatives in Johannesburg (South Africa) and the Czechoslovaks were flown on board another ICRC aircraft to Kinshasa (Zaire), where they were handed over to the consular authorities of their country. Before the transfer, three ICRC delegates, accompanied by a nurse and a doctor, spent a week at a UNITA base in southern Angola, where they gave medical care, distributed food, clothing and transmitted family messages to the detainees.

Africa — Latin America — Asia — Middle East — Europe

The President of the ICRC, Mr. Alexandra Hay, accompanied by the ICRC delegate general for Africa, Mr. Jean-Marc Bornet, went on a mission to Angola from 6 to 10 April and met representatives of the Angolan Government, in particular the Ministers of External Relations, Health, Defence, State Security and Provincial Coordination. Apart from the progressive resumption of ICRC humanitarian action on the central Angolan plateau (Planalto) since the end of January and a survey of its activities throughout the world, the President of the ICRC discussed more specific subjects, such as the carrying off by UNITA of foreign collaborators at Alto Catumbela (Benguela province) on 12 March. The delegate general for Africa only returned to Geneva on 14 April after discussing the future of ICRC assistance action on the Planalto with the ICRC delegation.

Africa — Latin America — Asia — Middle East — Europe

At the end of September new security problems arose, compelling the ICRC delegation in Angola temporarily to suspend its activities on the Planalto. In the night of 24 to 25 September the ICRC premises in Katchiungo (Huambo province), where fortunately no one was present at the time, were attacked and ransacked. After this incident the delegate general for Africa, Mr. J. M. Bornet, went to Angola from 29 September to 7 October to reexamine the situation with the delegation and to discuss with the authorities. At the end of October, the danger in the field had not diminished and continued to prevent a resumption of activities.

Identification of Hospital Ships and Ships protected by the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949

The Second Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea received its baptism of fire in 1982, during the conflict in the south Atlantic. The author of this article was present as one of the members of the ICRC delegation. This article is based largely on his experiences at the time and on the thoughts and considerations to which they have given rise.