On 11 May 1984 the Government of the Republic of Cape Verde deposited with the Swiss Government its instrument of accession to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. This accession brings to 156 the number of States parties to the Geneva Conventions.

It was with great sorrow that the ICRC heard of the sudden demise on 10 November 1984, after nearly forty years of service, of their faithful collaborator Mr. Claude Pilloud.

A law graduate and a barrister, Claude Pilloud made his debut as a delegate in France in June 1940, only a few months after the start of the Second World War. In 1943, he was the ICRC escort on a hospital train in an operation for the exchange of severely wounded Italian and British soldiers between Rome and Lisbon. From January to June 1945, he successfully discharged a delicate negotiation concerning the German armed forces surrounded at Saint-Nazaire and Lorient, in the north of France.

The Swiss Government received from the Independent State of Western Samoa an instrument of succession, without reserve, to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and of accession to the two Additional Protocols of 1977. This instrument, dated 1 August 1984, was registered on 23 August 1984.

The Republic of Seychelles deposited with the Swiss Government, on 8 November 1984, its instruments of accession to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and to the Additional Protocols I and II adopted on 8 June 1977. These treaties will enter into force for the Republic of Seychelles on 8 May 1985.

The People's Republic of the Congo deposited with the Swiss Government, on 10 November 1983, an instrument of accession to the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I) and non-international armed conflicts (Protocol II), adopted in Geneva on 8 June 1977.

Mr. Jean-Pierre Hocké, director for Operational Activities, accompanied by Mr. Jean-Marc Bornet, ICRC delegate general for Africa, visited Luanda on 6 June where he was received by the President of the Republic, Mr. Dos Santos. He had talks with the Minister and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Ministers for Health and for Planning, the Secretary of State for Social Affairs and the Vice-President of the “Angolan Red Cross”. The talks dealt with the setting up of an emergency programme of assistance for displaced civilian people victims of the events.

The Sultanate of Oman deposited with the Swiss Government, on 29 March 1984, two instruments of accession to the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I) and non-international armed conflicts (Protocol II), adopted in Geneva on 8 June 1977.

The Togolese Republic deposited with the Swiss Government, on 21 June 1984, the instruments of ratification of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I) and non-international armed conflicts (Protocol II), adopted in Geneva on 8 June 1977.

The fate of displaced persons in Angola continued to be of grave concern to the ICRC during the first weeks of the new year, all the more so as its efforts to provide food aid to the victims of the conflict situation were seriously hindered by the danger to which transport is exposed and by the impossibility of obtaining the authorities' agreement to allow the ICRC to work according to its customary procedure. The ICRC put forward concrete proposals both to the Government (in particular during the mission by the ICRC delegate-general for Africa, at the end of 1983) and to the directors of the “Angolan Red Cross”, with a view to resuming its normal assistance programmes. Unfortunately, these proposals had not produced any result by the end of February.

On 12 March 1984 the Republic of South Africa, a State party to the Geneva Conventions, deposited with the Swiss Government the following communication dated 24 February 1984:

Accession to the aforementioned Geneva Conventions and Protocols is governed by an identically worded article which stipulates that “From the date of its coming into force, it shall be open to any Power in whose name the present Convention has not been signed, to accede to this Convention”.

On 14 November 1983, the Syrian Arab Republic deposited with the Swiss Government an instrument of accession to the Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I).

On 26 April, 89 persons (19 children and 70 adults) held by UNITA were released and handed over to a group of ICRC delegates in southern Angola. The group of persons released consisted of 68 Portuguese, 16 Filipinos, one Japanese, one Spaniard, one Italian, one Brazilian and one Pole; eight of them were missionaries.

The People's Republic of Angola deposited with the Swiss Government, on 20 September 1984, an instrument of accession to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and to the Additional Protocol I of 8 June 1977.

The Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocol I will enter into force for the People's Republic of Angola on 20 March 1985.

The Republic of Bolivia deposited with the Swiss Government, on 8 December 1983, an instrument of accession to the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I) and non-international armed conflicts (Protocol II), adopted in Geneva on 8 June 1977.

After a mission by the President of the ICRC in July 1980 to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya the government authorities of that country made a sizeable gift in cash to the ICRC and, at the same time, proposed setting up a special fund, the annual income of which would be used for financing the general protection and assistance activities of the ICRC.

From 5 to 11 September, Mr. Jean-Marc Bornet, the ICRC delegate-general for Africa carried out a mission to Kenya. He had discussions in Nairobi with the heads of the ICRC delegations in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, the Sudan, and Uganda, in order to set the objectives of ICRC activities in the countries of the Horn of Africa for 1985.