Brazil minister wants more peacekeepers for Haiti

BRASILIA, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Brazil should send more troops to the U.N. peacekeeping mission that it leads in Haiti to help with the country's reconstruction, the Brazilian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

The 9,000-strong force in the Caribbean state includes some 1,200 Brazilians. Earlier this month, the United Nations extended the mission's mandate by a year.

"My position is that the Brazilian personnel in Haiti has to be increased to work for reconstruction," Nelson Jobim told a Congressional commission on foreign relations and defense.

Military construction and engineering experts now in Haiti were "absolutely essential" for developing Haiti's infrastructure, he said. Jobim did not say how many additional troops the ministry proposed to send.

Brazil's ambassador to Haiti said earlier this month the force should change its priorities to focus less on security and more on helping development.

Haiti has been relatively stable in recent months following more than two years of political and gang violence before and after the fall of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former president ousted in a rebellion in February 2004.