The U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed on Monday to authorize for another year an international security force helping fight armed gangs in Haiti, but a U.S. push for a plan to transform it into a U.N. peacekeeping mission was dropped from the resolution because of opposition by Russia and China.
"Discussing other options now will only interfere with the implementation of the mission's mandate. After all, peacekeeping operations are not a panacea," China's deputy U.N. Ambassador Geng Shuang told the council.
"What's more, Haiti does not have the conditions for the deployment of peacekeeping operations," he said.
Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said it was premature to discuss changing the mission.
"Clearly, overcoming criminality through military methods alone is not possible. There's a need for resolute and immediate action to counter the smuggling of weapons, American weapons, that have flooded into Haiti," he said.
Haiti's gangs are subjected to a U.N. arms embargo.
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