The World : S. Africa OKs Red Cross

South Africa lifted a ban on the International Red Cross and said it can continue operating in South Africa despite Pretoria’s ouster from a Red Cross conference in Geneva last month. The 159-25 expulsion vote came after Third World and East Bloc delegates urged excluding South Africa because of its apartheid system of racial separation. South Africa said its retaliatory ban on the Red Cross was canceled after Red Cross President Alexandre Hay wrote Pretoria dissociating himself from the ouster move. The Red Cross in South Africa helps with political prisoners and refugees.