UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 29 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council Sunday unanimously approved a resolution authorizing a Multinational Interim Force to head for Haiti immediately.
It will be allowed to stay for up to three months at which time it would be replaced by a U.N. force.
A U.S. official told United Press International the resolution was prepared by the Friends of Haiti, centering around Canada, France, the United States and the two Latin American nations currently on the council, Brazil and Chile.
Canada and France reportedly are readying or already have dispatched troops to the Caribbean nation. A U.S. official earlier told United Press International the U.S. Marines ordered in earlier Sunday would "establish a beachhead" for the MIF.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters he was "extremely happy" the council acted so quickly after Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide departed and the new President Boniface Alexandre, the former chief justice, took over.
"I think that there is good will and political will to do something in Haiti," said Annan, advising Haitians, "To remain calm, to work with the new president, and to think of their country and their future, not individual ambitions."
