The International Committee and the League of Red Cross Societies made a point of informing those taking part in the meetings of the International Red Cross in Prague, by means of information sessions and a booklet, of the work undertaken by the Red Cross in the Congo since 1960. This has been dealt with in the International Review on a number of occasions but in a fragmentary manner and we think it would be useful to summarize for our readers some of the successive stages in an operation which has mobilized, and which continues to mobilize, part of the forces of the Red Cross.

Here, first of all, are the main points of a speech made by Mr. Gallopin, Executive Director of the ICRC, to which we have added certain details on the interventions which have taken place in recent months, following events in Katanga. Secondly, we are publishing some passages from a booklet edited jointly by the ICRC and the League on medical assistance in the Congo and to finish we are giving a few details on the medal distributed to the members of medical teams to whom the ICRC wished to express its grateful recognition.

Dr. Ernest GLOOR will remain Vice-President of the International Committee in 1962 and Mr. Frederic SIORDET has been appointed Vice-President for 1962 and 1963.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has formed its Presidential Council for 1962, consisting of the following : President: Mr. Léopold Boissier ; Vice-Presidents: Dr. Ernest Gloor and Mr. Frédéric Siordet ; Members : Messrs. Jacques Cheneviere, Martin Bodmer, Jacques Freymond and Samuel Gonard.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has appointed a new member, Miss Marjorie Duvillard, who assumed her duties on November 23, 1961.

Georges Olivet died in the service of the Red Cross in December 1961 near Elisabethville, Katanga. The last message from him was received on December 13, in which he reported that he had several times tried to reach United Nations headquarters, but without success since the troops on guard had refused to allow him to pass. He had wanted to negociate a truce for the evacuation of civilians in the battle areas.

Mr. Thant, UNO Secretary-General, replied to a communication which he had received from Mr. Léopold Boissier, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The following are principal extracts from this letter :

Continuing its customary activity on behalf of prisoners and detained persons, the International Committee of the Red Cross sent a new mission to Algeria between November 24 and December 16, 1961.

In order to support the delegates' action, Mr. Léopold Boissier, President of the ICRC, sent a telegram to Mr. Thant, Secretary-General of the United Nations, insisting on the urgent necessity of evacuating the wounded, the sick and elements of the civilian population who found themselves in the zones of military operations in various parts of Elisabethville and Katanga. He asked him to see to it that the representatives of the United Nations in the Congo help the delegates of the ICRC to accomplish their strictly humanitarian mission.

It may seem surprising that, 16 years after the end of hostilities, certain sections of the Central Tracing Agency are obliged to continue their task of discovering the fate of members of the armed forces missing or presumed dead during the course of the Second World War.

As in previous years, the annual message by Mr. L. Boissier, President of the ICRC, has been recorded by the ICRC Broadcasting and Television Office and sent to fifty-one national broadcasting systems all over the world, in six different languages, for broadcasting at the close of 1961.