President Clinton has instructed the United States immigration authorities to postpone for a year the expulsion of thousands of Haitians who have been threatened with deportation. Mr Clinton said the decision - expected to affect some 20,000 people - had been taken in part because of what he called the fragile situation in Haiti. There is a continuing political crisis in Haiti, and United Nations peacekeepers began to withdraw a month ago. Andrew Bolton reports from Miami, in Florida, where there's a large Haitian community.

American officials say there are more than 100,000 Haitians living in the United States.

Over the years they've fled from the Caribbean nation to escape human rights abuses, civil strife and a ramshackle economy.

But many are in America illegally, and face the prospect of deportation.

President Clinton's decision to delay the process for an estimated 20,000 Haitians is being warmly welcomed by groups working for the rights of immigrants. They had argued that the Haitians were being discriminated against - partly because of their colour.

The United States recently granted permanent residency to a 150,000 Nicaraguans who'd also been facing deportation.

In addition, measures were brought in to protect the rights of a quarter of a million people from El Salvador and Guatemala. They were allowed to stay under a law known as the Victims of Communism Act, having arrived in the United States in the 1980s, when much of Central America was in the grip of savage civil wars.

By extending some hope to the Haitians, President Clinton said he was recognising the role the United States had played in Haiti's recent history - particularly by helping to restore democracy in 1994.

Delaying their return to Haiti, he said, would help to stabilise the country.