Bouake children moved, demonstrations in Abidjan

French troops arrived in the central Ivorian town of Bouake, 350 km from Abidjan, on Wednesday to evacuate 200 children and workers trapped in an international school following last Thursday's failed coup. Sources in Bouake told IRIN, the troops reached the school in the morning. "They are moving the children to Yamoussoukro airport by car, then fly them to Abidjan," the source said. The children include 160 Americans. After a night of sporadic shots, Bouake was said to be still under control by mutinous soldiers, but quiet. Sources in Korhogo, 634 north of Abidjan, said it was calm but some shots were heard. The market had some few food items on sale. In Abidjan, hundreds of youth demonstrators converged in the town center on Wednesday morning, in a show of support for government efforts to contain the security situation. They demanded that the French embassy hand over opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, who sought refuge there last week. Ouattara was quoted by the media on Tuesday as saying he had been targeted by loyalist soldiers who also destroyed his house. Government blocked some roads and guarded the French embassy. The demonstrators also went to the embassy of Burkina Faso in Abidjan. The International Federation of the Red Cross said the humanitarian situation among the displaced had "become worse since government troops decided to set fire to shanty towns..that were home to thousands of Ivorians and West African immigrants. Thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) can be seen moving from one end to the other. The IDPs are clustered in their hundreds without adequate shelter and sanitary conditions," the IFRC said. Meanwhile a planned regional heads of state meeting in Morocco was postponed. In the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mohammed Ibn Chambas told reporters that another heads of state meeting scheduled for Saturday had also been pushed to 5 October, in Dakar, Senegal or Accra, Ghana. Chambas led a delegation to meet the Burkina Faso president, Blaise Compaore. "Ecowas is going to do all it can to help and restore the rule of law and order, security for all Ivorians and other nationals living in Cote d’Ivoire," Chambas said. "We must see it as a major priority to ensure that peace and security returns to Cote d’Ivoire and we hope that in the spirit of West Africa, which wants to see a borderless West Africa in which all our people can move around and settle freely in any country, that spirit restored," Chambas added. Campaore, he said, had reacted to the crisis in a "calm and cool manner". Diplomats in Abidjan said the borders with Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali remained closed. There were unconfirmed reports of troop build up along these borders as well as along the border with Liberia. The uprising in cote d'Ivoire started on Thursday. Official figures indicate that 270 people were killed and at least 300 injured while preliminary assessments show that 5,000 people displaced in reprisals against immigrants and suspected supporters of the political opposition.