New York, Rabi'I 03, 1438, December 02, 2016, SPA -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon apologized for the first time on Thursday over the UN's role in the 2010 Haiti cholera outbreak, which killed thousands, according to dpa. However, the UN chief fell short of taking full responsibility for the epidemic. Experts have said for years that the infection had been brought to the impoverished Caribbean country by UN peacekeepers deployed after the 2010 earthquake. "We apologize to the Haitian people," Ban said. "We simply did not do enough with regard to the cholera outbreak and its spread in Haiti. We are profoundly sorry for our role." The UN estimates that 800,000 people were infected by the disease and 9,000 died as a result. The apology was issued in the context of a new push to mobilize UN funding to stop the spread of cholera and provide material assistance to the communities of people affected by cholera. Cholera is widely believed to have been introduced to Haiti when the UN deployed peacekeepers from Nepal - a country known to have a cholera outbreak - without testing them in advance or ensuring they were treated. An independent panel of experts appointed by the UN itself said that the exact source of the disease could not be determined. However, the UN peacekeepers were "the most likely source." While a first, Ban's apology does not mean that the UN was taking full responsibility for causing the outbreak - in August, the organization admitted a mere "moral responsibility" to cholera victims after years of denying its role. An apology without legal responsibility was as far as the UN was able to go in order to keep operating its peacekeeping missions without the threat of legal action when mistakes happen, Jan Eliasson, UN deputy secretary general, told reporters before Ban's announcement. "If you ask for us to accept full responsibility for everything that this disaster has caused with all its consequences - that is a limitation of the organization that will continue and will have to continue to have peacekeeping operations, humanitarian operations all over the world," Eliasson said. The UN has claimed immunity against prosecution, which was upheld by a US court this year during a class-action lawsuit brought against the UN by victims of the disease seeking compensation. --SPA 00:57 LOCAL TIME 21:57 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w281436