School children evacuated

BOUAKE, Ivory Coast -- Jubilation replaced fear within the whitewashed walls of a U.S.-led missionary school in battle-divided Ivory Coast on Wednesday, as French troops evacuated the mostly American staff and students Wednesday.\nBookended by French military vehicles, a caravan carrying the children rolled from the boarding school campus during the late afternoon. Children hanging from windows waved American flags and shouted "Vive la France!" -- "Long live France!"\nFor days, nearly 200 residents of the mostly American missionary school -- including 160 children ranging in age from 5 to 18 -- had been holed up as gunfire erupted outside their walls.\nDespite the fighting and their hasty departure, the children were in good spirits, according to Neil Gilliland, who has functioned as the school's spokesman from Nashville, Tenn., since the school was besieged.\n"For many of these kids, it's not the first time they've been evacuated," said a relieved Gilliland.\n"They've shown resilience and toughness that you don't often see."\nNormally an idyllic scattering of low-slung, pale-colored buildings surrounded by the verdant foliage of Ivory Coast's savannah highlands, the International Christian Academy became a shooting gallery over the past six days.\nFighting between disaffected soldiers and loyalist forces broke out last Thursday, engulfing some of Ivory Coast's main cities, including Bouake, where the missionary compound is located. At least 270 Ivorians have been killed in the carnage.\nOn Wednesday, about 100 heavily armed French forces punched through to Bouake's outskirts to reach the U.S.-led school and other foreign nationals in the area.\nThey later led the evacuees toward the main road to their staging area in Ivory Coast's capital, Yamoussoukro, about 40 miles to the south.\nTwo cargo-planefuls of American forces also arrived at an airstrip near Yamoussoukro on Wednesday. American officials said they hoped to evacuate as many as possible of the 300 Americans living in Bouake.\nDuring the past week, running water to the school compound was cut off, food supplies dwindled, and friends and family members abroad fretted -- but kept their faith.\n"They know that the Lord wants them to be there," said Janie Hutton, mother of one of the trapped missionaries and a former missionary herself now living in Highlands Ranch, Colo.\n"They have a sense that the Lord is protecting them."\nThe International Christian Academy has educated children of missionaries in West Africa since 1963.\nOn Monday, tensions inside the compound ratcheted higher as gunmen in the mutineer-held enclave scaled the compound's walls, letting loose a fusillade of bullets across the campus.\nIt wasn't clear who the gunmen were targeting, but missionary officials say it wasn't the staff or children there.\nMost of the children live and study in the compound while their parents work in the field across West Africa.\nThe compound appeared to be empty after the evacuation.\nOfficials in Yamoussoukro were preparing a center to receive the children.