The UN Security Council voted unanimously Monday to extend the mandate of the Kenya-led multinational force helping to tackle gang violence in Haiti, after brushing off a call from Haiti to start talks on transforming it into a UN peacekeeping mission.

The United States is the largest contributor to the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti, which has struggled to attract funding for its operations.

The UN extended its authorization of a multinational policing mission in Haiti on Monday amid reports of thousands of deaths due to gang violence this year and rising levels of acute hunger in the country.

The United States has dropped a plan to have the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM) in Haiti, led by the Kenya police, transformed into a formal United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operation.

Kenya will complete by January its full deployment of a stabilization force in violence-torn Haiti, President William Ruto said Thursday, as he appealed for greater funding to assist other contributing countries.

The trip by President William Ruto of Kenya came against a bleak backdrop in Haiti, where gangs operate with impunity and the Kenyan peacekeepers remain largely out of sight.

Kenya's President William Ruto has promised to complete the deployment of a Kenyan-led stabilisation force in Haiti by January, as Haiti's leader suggests boosting the intervention into a larger UN peacekeeping mission.