The Facts

• At a meeting of the UN Security Council arranged on Wednesday at their request, China and Russia expressed their opposition to transforming the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission in Haiti into a UN peacekeeping mission.

• Representatives for both countries alleged that conditions on the ground would expose peacekeepers to great security risks, with China's Geng Shuang calling for the council to focus on enable the MSS to fulfill its recently renewed mandate.

• This comes as Ecuador and the US put a revised draft resolution to convert the mission under Kenya's leadership to a blue helmet operation under silence procedure last week, following an official request by Haiti's transitional government.