Fresh airlift from Ivory Coast

The foreigners had been trapped in Korhogo for 10 days

French and American troops have evacuated more than 300 foreigners from a second town in Ivory Coast, where mutinous soldiers have staged a bloody rebellion.

Helicopters brought out evacuees who had been trapped in Korhogo in the north since the uprising began 11 days ago.

The mutineers still control a string of towns in the north, as well as Bouake, Ivory Coast's second city - which was evacuated by the French at the end of last week.

As the evacuation of Korhogo was underway, leaders of West African countries met in the neighbouring state of Ghana to consider military support for Ivory Coast Government.

The foreigners airlifted on Sunday included 100 Europeans, 40 Americans, and 200 nationals from other African countries.

They have been flown from Korhogo to the capital Yamoussoukro.

Bloodshed

The operation was carried out by French army helicopters and US transport planes.

I can assure you that we are now going to move to the fast lane ... the general offensive will start very soon

Defence Minister Moise Lida Kouass

The BBC's Paul Welsh in Yamoussoukro says those rescued were well, as the city had been quiet for several days - but they had been bracing themselves for more trouble.

More than 1,500 other foreigners, many of them French, have been evacuated from Bouake in recent days.

Several hundred people have died in the mutiny, which began on 19 September.

The uprising has revived ethnic and religious tensions between the mainly Christian south of the country and the Muslim north.

The government says it is preparing for a large offensive, to retake towns and cities.

But our correspondent says so far there has been little progress against the rebels on the ground.

Outside help

Leaders of the West African regional organisation Ecowas are holding an emergency summit in neighbouring Ghana to determine what they can do to help.

The operation was carried out by French and US troops

Fourteen West African leaders as well as South African President Thabo Mbeki - who chairs the African Union - are attending the talks in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

Ecowas countries want to stop the rebellion from turning into a regional conflict - as was the case in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the 1990s.

Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade - the current Ecowas chairman - says member states could send peacekeepers to Ivory Coast.

But Ivory Coast Defence Minister Moise Lida Kouassi says foreign soldiers are not needed on the ground.

He says what his country wants from its neighbours is ammunition, transport and communications equipment.

The French have already agreed to offer tactical and logistical help to their former colony.

The Ivorian authorities have said the rebels are mercenaries controlled by a foreign state - an allegation widely understood to mean its northern neighbour, Burkina Faso.