In order to support the delegates' action, Mr. Léopold Boissier, President of the ICRC, sent a telegram to Mr. Thant, Secretary-General of the United Nations, insisting on the urgent necessity of evacuating the wounded, the sick and elements of the civilian population who found themselves in the zones of military operations in various parts of Elisabethville and Katanga. He asked him to see to it that the representatives of the United Nations in the Congo help the delegates of the ICRC to accomplish their strictly humanitarian mission.