Haiti rejects Dominican Republic troops: envoys

A looter holds a knife as he fights for products in Port-au-Prince, January 16, 2010.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Earthquake-ravaged Haiti turned down an offer of troops from the neighboring Dominican Republic, forcing the United Nations to look elsewhere for additional peacekeepers, U.N. diplomats said on Wednesday.

The two states share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola but have a history of tense relations.

The Dominican Republic had offered an 800-strong battalion to form part of the reinforcement of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti. It was originally expected to secure a humanitarian corridor from their joint border to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.

"We understand the Haitian government has said no to them," one Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity. He assumed the decision came from Haitian President Rene Preval.

A U.N. official confirmed that Haiti turned down the offer but said the decision might not be definitive and talks were underway to see if Haiti would allow a rescue team or police from the Dominican Republic to help with the relief efforts.

"We're hoping other countries can provide troops," the official said.

The full potential strength of the U.N. peacekeeping forces is now 12,651, up from the current level of around 9,000, after a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Tuesday.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters that Ban wanted the extra peacekeepers on the ground as quickly as possible. He declined to say which countries had indicated they might send soldiers or police to Haiti.

"There have been indications of interest ... from four or five countries," he said. "There will be others."

Nesirky neither confirmed nor denied that Haiti rejected the Dominican Republic's troop offer, but said Haiti is a "sovereign country and it's up to the government of the country to say which troop-contributing countries can send troops."

BIGGEST LOSS OF LIFE IN U.N. HISTORY

The United Nations is now rushing to find the extra 3,500 troops and police to help maintain security and deliver aid.

Edmond Mulet, sent to Haiti to take over the U.N. force after its chief, Hedi Annabi, and dozens of other U.N. staff died in the earthquake, has said that Brazil was offering more troops and France and Chile were offering police.

U.N. officials have said the Philippines might also top up its existing contingent.

Haitian officials say the total death toll from the January 12 quake was likely to be between 100,000 and 200,000, and that 75,000 bodies had already been buried in mass graves.

The U.N. death toll from the earthquake now stands at 49, Nesirky told reporters. It is the biggest loss of life as a result of a single event in the United Nations' 65-year history.

Nesirky added that some 121 people have been rescued alive from under the rubble in Haiti by search-and-rescue teams that have come from the United States, China, Germany, Israel, France, Iceland and other nations.

The United States has around 12,000 military personnel in Haiti, on ships offshore or en route. They are not under U.N. command, though they are cooperating with the United Nations, which is overseeing the relief effort.

A senior official at the U.N. Development Program, Rebecca Grynspan, told reporters that her agency was implementing a "cash-for-work" program in Haiti that would pay people $5 a day to help clear away rubble and get the infrastructure running again. This would help Haiti's devastated economy, she said.

(Editing by David Storey and Eric Walsh)