YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast (AP) -- U.S. military C-130s and
U.S. troops landed in Ivory Coast on Wednesday on a rescue mission
for Americans in the West African nation's deadliest-ever uprising.
Two U.S. cargo planes touched down at 2 p.m. in
Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast's central capital and staging area for a
French rescue mission earlier Wednesday to the cut-off, rebel-held
city of Bouake.
Richard Buangan, an American diplomat helping to coordinate
at the staging area, said about 300 Americans were trapped in
Bouake.
"Our idea is to get as many out as possible," he told an
Associated Press reporter at the scene.
American soldiers jumped off the planes on touchdown,
securing the tarmac as gun-mounted Humvees drove down the ramps.
Armed, uniformed troops, some in helmets, then filed down onto the
airstrip in the thickly forested city.
An AP reporter earlier witnessed two U.S. C-130s take off
from Ghana's capital, Accra, hours after arriving in the neighboring
country for the rescue mission.
The rush to safeguard Westerners comes as Ivory Coast's
government struggles to retake two cities, Bouake and the northern
opposition stronghold of Korhogo, lost to insurgents since
Thursday's coup attempt. At least 270 people died in the first days
of the uprising.
The U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, confirmed
early Wednesday that troops had landed at a West African staging
area.
"Forces have arrived in the region to be in a closer
position to provide for the safety and security of the American
citizens in the Ivory Coast in wake of the recent civil unrest,"
said Maj. Bill Bigelow, a spokesman for the European Command, before
the landings in Yamoussoukro.

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