Missionaries, Foreigners Evacuating From Ivory Coast
Thousands of foreign nationals and citizens from various western African countries are evacuating from the Ivory Coast following four days of violence that have left more then 20 dead and hundreds wounded.
Thousands of foreign nationals and citizens from various western African countries are evacuating from the Ivory Coast following four days of violence that have left more then 20 dead and hundreds wounded. According to a United Nations spokesperson, the first plane left the country Wednesday afternoon carrying about 250 people.
The recent string of violence began Saturday, after a government aircraft bombed a French position near Bouake, killing nine French soldiers and an American aid worker, CNN reported. Though the Ivorian government said the bombing was an accident, the French responded by destroying two Ivorian Air Force planes and three helicopters.
In protest to the French response, tens of thousands of Ivorians roared into the streets, accusing Paris of trying to overthrow President Laurent Gbagbo.
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On Tuesday, gunfire ripped through the protestors, killing at least five people.
Florida-based New Tribes Mission, which reported Wednesday of the continued deterioration of civil order in the Ivory Coast, said that it has decided to evacuate its missionaries from the country.
While no NTM missionaries have been targeted or victimized, the safety of foreigners is uncertain and the missionaries have been unable to carry on their ministries, the mission group reported.
Arrangements for the evacuations are still being made at this time, but NTM reports that all missionaries will leave Ivory Coast by next week.
They will join the thousands of foreign nationals who are planning to leave the country.
According to Reuters, more than 2,200 French and other foreign nationals have been sheltering in French and U.N. bases in Abidjan, waiting to be flown out after being chased from their homes by protestors.
U.N. spokesman John Victor Nkolo said the United Nations and France have begun mass evacuations of U.N. staff and foreign nationals and that the evacuation will involve thousands of "Western nationals as well as citizens from various western African countries."
France alone plans to evacuate approximately 4,000 to 8,000 of its citizens
