We can say from experience that the ideas put forward in the document “Strategy for the development of National Societies in the Eighties” have served as a reference in the preparation of our general plans for the periods 1980–1985, 1982–1986 and 1987–1990.

On 7 November 1988, Mr. René Felber, Head of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, and his wife visited the ICRC where they were welcomed by President Cornelio Sommaruga.

Mr. Sommaruga thanked the Federal Councillor for the support traditionally afforded to the ICRC by the Swiss Confederation. He then gave his guests a review of the ICRC's activities throughout the world.

During this general fact-finding visit to the ICRC, which was preceded by a tour of the International Museum of the Red Cross, Mr. Felber was accompanied by Ambassador Franz Muheim, Head of the Directorate of International Organizations at the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Rudolph Schaller, the Department's Secretary General.

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.

The mission of the President of the ICRC in Southern Africa from 12 to 20 February is described on page …

Ethiopia

Despite many difficulties, relief operations for hundreds of thousands of civilian victims of the conflict and drought continued at the beginning of 1988.

The difficulties encountered in delivering food to Tigre, one of the regions where the needs were greatest, forced the delegates on several occasions to postpone planned food distributions. In Wollo, the ICRC was still unable at the end of February to begin its relief programme.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the most outstanding expression of development. It was created 125 years ago and now covers the whole world. It has increased its membership many times over, substantially enlarged its functions and developed new methods and forms of action. By continually adapting to the changing world and to new requirements, the Movement has not only preserved the place that it had at the beginning of its existence, but has also acquired the high reputation and position it holds today. The Movement has thus shown its capacity for far-reaching development, and this must be taken into account in defining the Movement's concept of development today.

At the invitation of Dr. Janos Hantos, President of the Executive Board of the Hungarian Red Cross, the ICRC President paid an official visit to Hungary from 15 to 20 September 1988, accompanied by Mr. M. Veuthey, Delegate General for Europe and North America, and Mrs. C. Kruck, who is in charge of dissemination for Europe and North America.

The ICRC President had discussions with top-level Hungarian Government officials, the Chairman (Prime Minister), Mr. Károly Grósz, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Péter Várkonyi, on ratification by Hungary of the Additional Protocols, the ICRC's financing and several of its current humanitarian operations.

The Head of the Spanish Government, Mr. Felipe González, visited the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross on 7 June 1988, and was received by the institution's President, Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga, and several members of the Committee. The Spanish Prime Minister was accompanied by Mr. Javier Solana, Minister for Culture and government spokesman. The Secretary General of the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Mr. Pär Stenbäck, and the President of the Spanish Red Cross, Mr. Leocadio Marín, also attended.

The rapatriation of prisoners of war and civilian internees began following the agreement signed on 3 April 1988 between Ethiopia and Somalia. During July, ICRC delegates visited and registered the prisoners of war and civilian internees in both countries. For many of those held in Somalia, this was the first visit by the ICRC in eleven years of captivity. The repatriation operation was organized in co-operation with the authorities and the National Societies of the two countries concerned. On 23 August, the first flight left Mogadishu for Dire Dawa (Ethiopia) with an initial group of 176 Ethiopians and a Cuban prisoner of war who had been held in Somalia for over ten years.

The ICRC assisted more than 12 000 persons in northern Burundi following the outbreaks in August of violent ethnic disputes. Blankets, clothing, soap, cooking utensils and farming tools were distributed from mid-September to the affected population.

Relief materials were in part transported by truck from Uganda and in part purchased locally by the ICRC.

Distributions took place in the villages of Ntega and Marangara, near the border with Rwanda, where the recent clashes had occurred. Delegates distributed supplies first in the centres set up for displaced persons, then in the hills to which the population was gradually returning.

Henry Dunant's prediction falls short of the terrible reality of 125 years later. Weapons of destruction are infinitely sophisticated, armed clashes are more lethal than ever but paradoxically none the shorter. Every new conflict makes clear the deliberate intention to do away with any distinction between combatants and non-combatants and, worse still, to take the civilian population as a target.

Let's face it: a world of peace and justice, devoid of violence and misery, is not around the corner.

Stating this unhappy reality is not meant to discourage those of goodwill who keep the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement going. Rather, it is to stress just how important it is in humanitarian endeavour to bring our forces into concert so that we can all pull together. The best use possible must be made of every individual, every penny, if we are going to make headway in this unequal struggle in which we are engaged to assist the victims of war, natural disaster and poverty. Rivalry is all the more shocking when it arises in the area of humanitarian aid as the needs are so enormous and there is more than enough room for everyone. But everyone must find his proper place in the joint effort; effectiveness is impossible without good co-ordination.

From 22 to 24 June 1988, an international conference was held in The Hague, Netherlands, on “Humanitarian Assistance in Armed Conflict”. It was organized by the University of Leiden's Red Cross Chair of International Humanitarian Law, together with the National Red Cross Societies of Belgium (Flemish Community) and The Netherlands.

The conference, which was attended by some 180 participants (with Her Royal Highness, Princess Margriet of The Netherlands, as the most distinguished among them) was opened by the Dutch Minister for Development Co-operation, Mr. Pieter Bukman. Professor René Jean Dupuy, professor of International Law at the College de France, Paris, gave the keynote speech at the opening session. Speakers during the three working sessions of the conference included representatives of the ICRC, the League, UNHCR, Médecins sans Frontières, Médecins du Monde, CEBEMO (the Dutch Catholic Organization for Joint Financing of Development Programmes), Save the Children Fund, Oxfam UK, and the academic world.