  BBC News World Edition  You are in: Africa   News Front Page
Middle East South Asia Talking Point Country Profiles In Depth
BBC Sport BBC Weather Wednesday, 25 September, 2002, 08:35 GMT
09:35 UK US in Ivory Coast rescue mission Undated photo of the
International Christian academy in Bouake where the children are
holed up Bouake: About 160 children are trapped in a school US
troops have landed in West Africa to safeguard about 160
American schoolchildren trapped by fighting in a town in Ivory
Coast.  The children are in Bouake, which is still held by rebel
soldiers who staged an uprising against the government of
President Gbagbo.  French troops French troops are also on
standby  Three US military planes have arrived in neighbouring
Ghana carrying an estimated 200 troops and equipment.  The
deployment - at the request of the US ambassador - comes as
Ivorian army troops are trying to recapture Bouake.  France -
the former colonial power - has also reinforced its military
presence in Ivory Coast with the inte