Two aircraft were diverted by the PFLP to Zarka on 6 September 1970 and a third on 9 September. The ICRC intervened on behalf of the passengers and crews with a view to providing protection and assistance. We describe below the events up to the end of September.

Visits to prisoners of war.—From 24 to 30 August, ICRC delegates were granted authorization to see seven Israeli prisoners of war who had not yet been visited. Among them were two majors, three captains, one lieutenant and a sergeant, captured by Egyptian Armed Forces between 30 June and 18 July. Two of them had been wounded and were in a Cairo military hospital. The delegates of the ICRC also visited once again the five other Israeli prisoners of war whom they have been seeing regularly for several months.

During its plenary session on 1 October 1970, the ICRC, through its President, expressed to its Delegate-General for the Far East, Mr. André Durand, on the occasion of his retiring from that office in order to assume other duties at central headquarters, its profound gratitude for his outstanding service in the Red Cross cause for nineteen years.

Mr. Naville pointed out that in 1962 the ICRC had awarded Mr. Durand its silver medal in grateful recognition of his dedicated co-operation. On the Committee's behalf, Mr. Naville reiterated its full appreciation.

Mr Alain Modoux has been appointed Head of the Press and Information Division of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Mr. Modoux acted on several occasions as delegate of the ICRC in the Middle East, Africa and the Far East, and was then a member of the Legal Department. He had been since the beginning of this year Acting Head of the Information Service of the ICRC.

In its issue of August 1970, the International Review had mentioned that 126 States were parties to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. The ICRC has since been informed by the Federal Political Department in Berne of the accession of two more States to these Conventions. The Swiss Authorities received on 5 August the notification of accession from the Republic of Chad, and on 18 August the declaration of continuity from Mauritius, which is thus bound to the Conventions as from 12 March 1968, when it became independent.

As it had already done in the past, and thanks to the kindness of the League, the ICRC invited on 22 September representatives from the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Lion and Sun National Societies, who were present in Geneva for the League Executive Committee, to its headquarters, in order to acquaint them with its present activities, both practical and general. They had thus the opportunity of listening to a number of accounts, which were then followed by a general discussion.

Already in 1964 the International Committee of the Red Cross, in co-operation with the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Republic, helped Yemeni war wounded who had had to undergo amputation. Several groups of such disabled casualties went at that time to Cairo where they were treated before being fitted with an artificial limb in a rehabilitation centre near the Egyptian capital. The ICRC bore the cost whilst the U.A.R. authorities provided air transport between Cairo and Sana'a.

As usual the ICRC has published a report in which it reviews the work of the previous year.

The Report first gives a summary of the International Committee's work in the field in many parts of the world: its conventional activities for the benefit of prisoners of war, its organization of the general exchange of Honduran and Salvadorian prisoners and of the general repatriation of prisoners of war in the Middle East,

It describes how, concerned for the welfare of civilian populations, the ICRC went to the assistance of displaced persons in a number of countries, in respect of which some significant statistics are given. Many were the interventions of the ICRC, such as in the Yemen Arab Republic, where food distributions were organized and several medical teams were in action.

A feature of the 1969 balance sheet of the ICRC is the increase in the deficits of its “relief action” accounts. These rose from 2,163,705 francs at the end of 1968 to 6,468,054 francs at the end of 1969, i.e. an increase of 4,304,349 francs. Details of expenditure, with comparable 1968 figures, are as follows:

As a counterpart, advances granted by the Swiss Confederation rose from 1,820,000 francs at the end of 1968 to 6,340,000 francs at the end of 1969.