BUENOS AIRES, June 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Argentine Foreign Minister Rafael Bielsa admitted Friday that Argentine troops serving as UN peacekeepers in Haiti will face risks because "they are militaries."

    Bielsa said that the mission of the peacekeepers in Haiti "is to protect civilians, protect themselves and disarm armed contingents who conspire against social peace."

    "There can be violence in any of these episodes. Let's hope this violence will not occur."

    The deployment of Argentine forces in Haiti was passed last Wednesday by the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies is expected to approve it next week.

    Argentine President Nestor Kirchner was criticized by the opposition over his decision to send troops to the Caribbean nation, for they consider the country could be viewed as an accomplice in a US military intervention.

    Under the government's plan, Argentina is expected to send 500 army soldiers, a marine infantry and 150 backup men, as well as two ships, three helicopters, and a mobile hospital.

    The countries of the Common Market of the South (Mercosur), comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay as full membersand Chile, Bolivia and Peru as associates, have committed to dispatching troops to Haiti to oversee the peace process under thecommand of the United Nations.

    The UN Security Council approved last April the dispatch to Haiti of 6,700 soldiers of different Latin American countries to replace peacekeepers of Chile, the United States, France and Canada.

    They were deployed in Haiti after a rebellion that forced the resignation and exile of then President Jean Bertrand Aristide in late February. Enditem