CAPTION ONLY: BLACK MARKET FOR BLACK GOLD

Haitian vendors sell containers of gas and diesel fuel on the black market Thursday in Port-au-Prince as the effects of a U.N. petroleum embargo intensify. The army arrested several nearby vendors Thursday who appeared to be working independently of Haiti's military, which controls most black-market sales. Soldiers also confiscated the fuel of the vendors who were arrested. Although selling fuel in containers is illegal, more than 20 black-market stands were operating openly. Some of the vendors said they were getting their stock from the military. Thursday's arrests came hours after a fire at a downtown Texaco station. Radio reports cited negligence by black-market vendors in front of the station as a possible cause of the blaze. In Gonaives, 100 miles north of Port-au-Prince, a vendor smoking a cigarette near his supplies was severely burned Sunday. Black marketers are charging up to $7 a gallon, and illegal sales increased this week as stocks dwindled.