In June 1993, the UN passed Security Council Resolution 841, establishing (provided a solution was not found within 7 days) a trade embargo on Haiti that included ‘arms and related materiel including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, police equipment and spare parts’. The decision to pass the Resolution followed the military coup in Haiti in 1991, deposing elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and following a request from the Permanent Representative of Haiti for the UN to ‘make universal and mandatory the trade embargo on Haiti recommend by the Organization of America States’.
In August 1993, the UN passed Security Council Resolution 861, which suspended the arms embargo, following the Governors Island Agreement between the President of Haiti and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Haiti.
In October 1993, the UN passed Security Council Resolutions 873 and 875, which terminated the suspension of the arms embargo and called on states to once again ensure its strict implementation, as well as calling for a naval blockade to support the embargo. This followed the obstruction to the dispatch of the United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) and the assassination of various government officials of President Aristide.
In September 1994, the UN passed Security Council Resolution 944, which suspended the arms embargo, following the deployment of the first members of the UNMIH mission and stated that it would be terminated following the expected return of President Aristide.
In October 1994, following the return of President Aristide, UN Security Council Resolution 948 confirmed the termination of the arms embargo.