BUENOS AIRES, June 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The Argentine government issued a decree Tuesday to authorize the dispatch of more than 600 troops and medical staff to join the UN peacekeeping forces in Haiti.

    According to the degree posted on the State's Office Bulletin, Argentina will send 614 troops, military doctors and nurses to the Caribbean country along with a transport ship, 30 armored personnel carriers, a mobile air force hospital unit and two helicopters.

    They are scheduled to stay there for six months, but their mission is expected to extend for a maximum of 18 months, the decree said.

    Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the Argentine troops will leave for Haiti on July 10 and be deployed in the cities of Gonaives and Saint Marc.

    Argentina's Lower House gave final approval on June 17 to the troop sending plan proposed by President Nestor Kirchner. The troops will join the Brazil-led UN peacekeeping force in Haiti.     

    The UN force began arriving in Haiti on June 1. It replaces a 3,600-strong multinational force led by the United States sent after armed rebels forced Haiti's first democratically elected president,Jean Bertrand Aristide, to resign in February. Enditem