The United Nations kept staunch in returning Haiti to peace and security, despite the recent death of the UN peacekeeping forces' top military commander there, a UN official said on Tuesday.

Juan Gabriel Valdes, the UN secretary-general's special representative to Haiti, said the UN forces were still trying to curb continuing violence in that Caribbean country, reports reaching here said.

"We are planning other attacks on kidnappers and we are going to resist this process of destabilization," he said. "We are not going to allow any attempt to derail the electoral process."

Valdes's determination was echoed by Chilean general Eduardo Aldunate Herman, who took the provisional command of the UN peacekeeping forces after the death of the former top commander, Brazilian general Urano Texeira da Matta Bacellar.

"Be certain, General Bacellar, that we continue to accomplish the mission and our best proof of loyalty to you will be to ensure that peace and security reach every corner of this country," Aldunate said Monday at a farewell ceremony to Texeira.

Texeira was found dead in his room on Saturday at Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti, apparently killed by a bullet wound in the head.

His body was carried to Brazil's capital Brasilia on Tuesday, and would be given a final autopsy before being buried with full military honors.

Brazilian and UN personnel are still investigating three possibilities for Texeira's death: accidental death, suicide or murder.

A general strike was called in Haiti Monday to protest continuous unrests and a wave of kidnappings. Haiti has postponed its general elections for four times and Haitians are now divided on the role of foreign forces.

Haiti's crisis erupted in February 2004, when U.S. soldiers forced the then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office amid a rebel against his rule.

Source: Xinhua