The date of 12 August 1949 takes its place amongst the important historic events of which the Red Cross can be justly proud: on 22 August 1864 there was the signing of the First Geneva Convention; the second revision of that Convention and the signing of the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war were made on 27 July 1929 and on 12 August 1949 there were the revision of the old Conventions and the adoption of the Geneva Convention for the protection of civilian persons in time of war. On each occasion protection of the individual was extended to further categories of victims.

We have the honour to inform you that the International Committee of the Red Cross on 3 July 1969 officially recognized the Somali Red Crescent Society.

The new Society, founded in 1963, formally applied to the International Committee for recognition on 9 April 1967. Some improvements and modifications to the statutes being considered necessary, these were realized in May 1969.

On the morning of 30 June 1969, the Nigerian Government officially stated that it was putting an end to the assignment which the ICRC had been discharging since July 1968 for co-ordination of relief action in territory controlled by the Federal Government. This decision stipulated that:

the Nigerian Rehabilitation Commission would take over co-ordination, with assistance from the Nigerian Red Cross; relief to Biafra would be subject to control by the federal authorities;

only people or organisations complying with Federal Government requirements would be permitted to carry out relief operations.

The International Review in its last number mentioned that a DC 7 aircraft, placed at the ICRC's disposal by the Swedish Red Cross, had been shot down during the night of 5-6 June 1969 when flying relief supplies to Uli in Biafra. The four members of its crew: David Brown, Captain, Stig Carlson, Co-pilot, Kiell Pettersen, Flight Engineer and Loadmaster Harry Axelsson, were all killed.

A delegation from the Danish Red Cross visited the International Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies on 10-11 July 1969.

It comprised Dr. C. C. Joergensen, Danish Red Cross Vice-President, Mr. Arne Fremm, Secretary-General, Prince Henrik of Denmark, Head of International Relations, and Dr. J. Larsen, President of the Danish Medical Association.

Because of the armed conflict which broke out in the middle of July between El Salvador and Honduras and in response to an appeal made by the Red Cross Society of the latter, the ICRC sent out Mr. S. Nessi, Delegate-General for Latin America, and Mr. E. Leemann, Delegate, to investigate on the spot. Their assignment was to make all possible arrangements with the authorities and National Societies to come to the aid of the victims and ensure the application of the Geneva Conventions, to which the two countries in conflict are signatories.

It will be recalled that on 13 December 1961, Georges Olivet, a delegate of the International Committee, died on Red Cross service. This took place in Katanga when, in the middle of the fighting, he tried to save the lives of those undergoing intensive fire. In this he did not succeed, made a further attempt, and that was the end. He was accompanied by two volunteers of the Katanga Red Cross, Nicole Vroonen and Styts Smeding who suffered the same fate.

Three important events affected the ICRC's financial position in 1968, namely:

1. The decision of the Swiss Federal Council on 13 March to increase to 2.5 million francs Switzerland's regular annual contribution to the ICRC and also to convert into a subsidy the current account advances granted over previous years to finance relief actions. These advances had been drawn from a 7.5 million franc credit granted in 1946.