More foreigners evacuated from Ivory Coast

YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast -- U.S. and French troops swooped in before dawn Sunday to evacuate Americans and other foreigners from an Ivory Coast city, landing helicopters in rebel territory to pluck out nuns, Peace Corps workers and orphans clutching stuffed rabbits.

The French-U.S. rescue mission in rebel-held Korhogo came as West African leaders in Ghana debated deploying a West African force to strengthen Ivory Coast's government against its deadliest-ever rebellion.

"A threat to Ivory Coast is a threat to all of us," declared President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, which has scrambled fighter jets to Ivory Coast for a looming showdown.

In Korhogo, a northern city held by rebels since a bloody Sept. 19 coup attempt, the sound of helicopters breaking through the night early Sunday signaled rescue for hundreds of Americans and other foreigners pinned down by gunfire for 10 days and nights.

French and U.S. C-130 military cargo planes ferried the Westerners to an airfield in Yamoussoukro, the Ivory Coast capital now used by Western forces as a staging point for rescue missions in the once-stable country.

French troops led an evacuation of more than 2,000 Westerners from Bouake on Thursday and Friday.

Sunday's daylong evacuation brought 34 Americans out of Korhogo.

For the 2,000 Americans in Ivory Coast, "this is the last major evacuation" for now, said Richard Buangan, a Paris-based U.S. diplomat helping coordinate the rescues.

However, U.S. forces would remain on standby, he said.

Ivory Coast armed forces spokesman Jules Yao Yao said on state television that loyalist forces fired heavily on rebel lines north of Yamoussoukro -- the closest clash to the capital yet.

The military spokesman defended Ivory Coast's failure to carry out repeated threats of an imminent offensive to retake all of Ivory Coast's north.

"The operation's slow progress, which some have reproached us for, is caused by the desire of our forces to limit to the minimum all collateral effects," such as civilian casualties, he said.

Underscoring the gravity with which the continent's leaders regard the crisis in one of West Africa's economic powerhouses, presidents of nine West African nations and foreign ministers of two others met to weigh military action or mediation on behalf of the Ivory Coast government.

South African President Thabo Mbeki also attended, calling it a show of solidarity.

Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade, chairman of West Africa's regional bloc, urged the deployment of a regional "peace contingent." No leader has yet publicly proposed its size or mission.

"I will not compromise on democracy and the rule of law," said Nigeria's Obasanjo, whose military has participated in past West African deployments in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Mohamed ibn Chambas, the secretary-general of the West African leaders' bloc, said, "We must send a clear message ... that those days of illegitimate governments are gone. There must be zero tolerance for coups in West Africa."