A Brazilian general took command of U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti on Thursday and said he plans no change in the strategy to stabilize the troubled Caribbean nation.

Maj. Gen. Carlos Alberto dos Santos became the fourth U.N. commander since the international force arrived in July 2004 to quell unrest sparked by an uprising that ousted former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Dos Santos assumes control as Haitian police and the 8,800-strong U.N. force fight a wave of killings and kidnappings blamed mostly on armed gangs that control several large Port-au-Prince slums.

Dos Santos, speaking after a brief ceremony at a Brazilian military base in a Port-au-Prince suburb, said he would not change any tactics implemented by Lt. Gen. Jose Elito Carvalho, another Brazilian who finished his one-year term as commander.

"We are going to work in the same way as we have worked before," Dos Santos said. "Nothing has changed about our mission or our obligations."

(Published by Newsday, January 12, 2007)