Mr. Harry Carl Angst has recently given up his duties as honorary ICRC delegate to Japan, a position in which he had served since 1948, following his appointment as a delegate in 1943. As honorary delegate, he carried out numerous missions on behalf of prisoners of war in Japan, China, Manchuria and Okinawa and of stateless persons detained in Japan. He took part in the repatriation of Koreans from Japan to North Korea, from 1959 to 1968. In all these tasks, he displayed great qualities of intelligence, courage and devotion, for which the ICRC expressed its gratitude in conferring upon him its silver medal, in a presentation on 5 December 1974.

On 17 February 1975, the President of the ICRC Executive Board, Mr. Roger Gallopin, met the American Secretary of State, Mr. Henry Kissinger, while the latter was on a visit to Geneva. The talks centred on the ICRC's humanitarian work throughout the world. The Secretary of State expressed the United States Government's appreciation of the tasks accomplished by the ICRC and, in particular, its efforts to promote international humanitarian law.

After the June survey mission in Angola, the ICRC appealed to seventeen National Red Cross Societies to provide material support for its assistance operations in that country. The amount requested in the appeal was two million Swiss francs.

ICRC Activities. — The most urgent humanitarian needs are for medical and surgical assistance and protection and aid for military and civilian victims, including displaced civilians. To carry out the various activities required, the ICRC has maintained contact with authorities of the transitional government of Angola at Luanda, Nova Lisboa and Kinshasa, and with the Portuguese High Commissioner. To overcome difficulties in delivering relief and transporting its delegates in Angola, the ICRC chartered a DC-6 aircraft which left Geneva on 1 September for Luanda with a cargo of about 3½ tons of relief supplies (milk, vitamins and food).

The regional delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross for Southern Africa was in Mozambique from 1 to 18 December 1974. At Lourenço Marques he met high government authorities, including the Prime Minister of the transitional Government, and local Red Cross leaders.

Mr. Jean C. Ott, delegate-general for Asia and Oceania, asked to be relieved of his duties as of 31 December 1974.

The International Committee accepted Mr. Ott's resignation with great regret, conscious of the fact that it was losing a co-worker of outstanding qualities.

Mr. Ott had carried out the tasks entrusted to him with distinction as well as competence. First a delegate and subsequently head of delegation in several countries, he was named delegate-general for Asia and Oceania in 1970. He carried out numerous missions in Asia and took on great responsibilities in Geneva in the Department of Operations. On the occasion of its general assembly on 19 December, the ICRC expressed its profound gratitude to Mr. Ott.

A Catalogue of Publications (1864–1975) has just been issued by the ICRC. This is a 40-page booklet listing titles of publications issued by the ICRC in the course of over a hundred years and which are not out of print; a number of works printed by other publishers have also been included. Titles are classified under the following headings: History of the Red Cross—Principles—Organization—Development of Humanitarian Law—Dissemination of the Conventions—General Information—ICRC Activities. Most of the titles listed have been issued in English, French and Spanish and some of them in other languages, mainly Arabic and German.

As customary, the International Committee has published, for 1974, its Annual Report. The first six chapters give an account of the Committee's extensive and varied work during the year; the seventh is devoted to the ICRC's financial situation and the special funds which it manages.

In response to an invitation, the President of the Red Cross of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam paid a visit to the ICRC on 19 March. He was received by Mr. Roger Gallopin, President of the Executive Board, and Mr. Jean-Pierre Hocké, Director of the Department of Operations. Afterwards, he visited the League of Red Cross Societies where he was welcomed by Mr. Henrik Beer, Secretary General.

The International Committee learned with sorrow of the death of Mr. Samuel A. Gonard on 3 May 1975.

Appointed to membership of the ICRC in June 1961, Mr. Gonard shortly thereafter resigned from his high office in the Swiss Army and took an active part in the work of the institution. He was elected one year later to the Presidential Council and in that capacity carried out a number of major missions on behalf of the ICRC in several countries.

In the course of its Assembly on 19 December 1974, the ICRC noted the resignation of Mr. Max Petitpierre on reaching the age limit.

Mr. Petitpierre assumed his functions as a member of the International Committee in December 1961. From that time on, he co-operated unfailingly and intimately in the work of the institution, which benefited from his vast knowledge and far-reaching experience with Red Cross problems and international humanitarian law. It was he who presided over the 1949 Diplomatic Conference which adopted the four Geneva Conventions. Having exercised the highest functions in his country's government, he rendered the ICRC services which, with his authority and constant devotion, his knowledge of beings and things, his wisdom and prudence, proved particularly useful in the humanitarian task of the organization under various circumstances.

Mrs. Vittoria Leone, Honorary President of the Italian Red Cross, accompanied by Mrs. Francesca de Gasperi, President of the Red Cross Women's National Committee, Dr. C. A. Masini, President, and Dr. Luciano Corvini, head of the external relations bureau, visited the international Red Cross organizations in Geneva, from 2 to 4 July 1975, at the invitation of the League and ICRC.