UN lifts Haiti ban

The UN Security Council yesterday suspended a crippling oil embargo and other sanctions against Haiti because a democratic government was on the verge of replacing the country's harsh military regime, Reuter reports from New York.

Under a UN-brokered 3 July peace plan between the ousted president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and General Raoul Cedras, the military commander who overthrew him, sanctions were to be suspended once a new prime minister took office. Father Aristide's choice of Robert Malval has been approved by parliament.