US troops deployed in Haiti will expand their mission there to include search for illegal weapons, a senior military commander in charge of US operations in the Caribbean nation said Wednesday. 

General James Hill, commander of US Southern Command, told a Pentagon briefing that in addition to taking weapons from Haitians encountered on patrols, US troops would also develop intelligence and find weapons caches owned by any of the violent factions in Haiti.

"First, it's a force-protection issue for my forces. And, secondly, it is to help develop a more secure and stable environment inside Haiti," Hill said.

He called the change a natural evolution of the US peacekeeping mission in Haiti, saying it required only a clarification of the rules that govern when troops can use force.

Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said preventing looting was not part of the mission for the roughly 1,600 US troops, mostly Marines, in Haiti. Military officials have said the primary mission of US troops there is to guard key sites to prepare the way for a UN peacekeeping force.

France, Chile and Canada have sent a total of about 700 troops to Haiti and the Pentagon said Tuesday that there are other countries that are looking to increase their contributions.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2004)