The President of the ICRC, Mr. Alexandre Hay, attended the centenary commemorations of two National Red Cross Societies during the month of May.

The Central Tracing Agency had the pleasure of receiving a visit by Mrs. Sztomberek, head of the Polish Red Cross Tracing Service, who was in Geneva during the first week of October. The purpose of Mrs. Sztomberek's visit was to carry out with the Central Tracing Agency a detailed investigation of the various technical problems connected with the many thousand captivity certificates provided to former Polish prisoners of war. The Polish Red Cross and the Central Tracing Agency are working together closely in this extensive enterprise.

In declarations dated 10 February 1977, received by the Swiss Government on 25 May 1977, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen acceded to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 for the protection of victims of war.

Miss L. Simonius, ICRC delegate, visited Athens from 24 to 29 November and Nicosia from 6 to 13 December.

The ICRC Medical Division organized a seminar from 3 to 5 May at Cartigny, near Geneva, for about 50 Swiss doctors who had carried out medical missions abroad. Those taking part in the meetings included ICRC staff, members of the Swiss Red Cross and of the Swiss Disaster Relief Corps. Two Danish doctors were also invited.

From 3 to 20 January 1977, a group of experts, convened by the Secretary-General of the Diplomatic Conference, met to prepare—in the various languages—the texts of the articles already adopted by the Conference Committees.

The ICRC was, of course, also represented, in the person of Mr. Claude Pilloud, who was in permanent attendance, while the Head of the Legal Division and some of its staff joined in the discussion of certain specific articles.

The preparation of the work had been undertaken in September 1976 by the Conference Secretariat with the help of ICRC experts.

In its March 1977 issue, International Review described the emergency relief action carried out by the ICRC in Madagascar and the Comoros to help Comorian citizens who had been resident in Madagascar and who wished to get back or had just gone back to their homeland. At the end of January, ICRC aid in Madagascar was no longer needed, but in the Comoros, the medical delegate and nurse dispatched by the ICRC continued providing assistance during the whole of February.

On 2 November, the new President of the League of Red Cross Societies, Mr. J.A. Adefarasin, was received by the ICRC Assembly at its headquarters in Geneva. He was welcomed by Mr. Alexander Hay, President of the ICRC, who extended the good wishes and congratulations of the ICRC on the important new office to which he was recently elected in Bucharest by the International Conference of the Red Cross.

On 10 December 1976, the Swiss Government received an instrument of ratification of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 from the Republic of Bolivia and accordingly notified the Governments of the States parties to these conventions.

In a letter dated 27 May 1977, Mr. Mierre Micheli, member of the International Committee of the Red Cross, tendered his resignation from the ICRC for health reasons, with effect from 1 June.

Presidential mission. —Mr. Alexandre Hay, President of the ICRC, visited South Africa from 19 to 26 April, in the company of Mr. Frank Schmidt, Delegate General for Africa. On 21 April, Mr. Hay met Mr. John Vorster, Prime Minister, Mr. R. F. Botha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. J. Kruger, Minister of Justice, Mr. P. W. Botha, Minister of Defence, and Mr. S. van der Merwe, Minister of Health. The talks dealt mainly with humanitarian problems in southern African and in particular with the subject of detention. In this connection, the ICRC, which visits sentenced political detainees, expressed the wish to extend such visits to other categories of detainees, especially those arrested under the “Terrorism Act” and the “General Law Amendment Act”.