The body of Gen Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar was discovered early in the morning yesterday in the capital, Port-au-Prince, with a bullet wound to the head.

UN officials said it was likely that he had shot himself.

The Brazilian general had taken over as head of the 9,000-strong peacekeeping force in September last year.

Haiti continues to be blighted by political and criminal violence and instability, nearly two years after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted.

The peacekeepers have so far had little success in improving the security situation in the country, where elections have been postponed four times.

The mission's mandate, which expires in mid-February, also includes supporting the political process.

On Friday, the UN Security Council urged the country's interim government to hold an election by 7 February.

The election has faced repeated delays because of spikes in violence, delays in distributing 3.5 million voter identification cards and problems with polling stations.

Voting had originally been scheduled for November, then moved to December, and then delayed a third time until 8 January.

But last week Haiti's provisional electoral council postponed the election again, without setting a new date.