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| Ivory Coast |
A UN employee said they had been told today that they were leaving, and had been taken by helicopter from their base in Abidjan to the airport. They expected to be evacuated initially to the northern city of Bouake.
The source asked not to be named because UN employees are not authorised to speak to the press.
The evacuation order is for all "essential employees". Non-essential workers were evacuated several months ago. The UN still has a military presence in Ivory Coast, and French forces secured Abidjan airport on Saturday.
Gbagbo's elected successor, Alassane Ouattara, has meantime rejected UN charges that his forces were involved in a massacre of hundreds of civilians.
The UN mission, ONUCI, said on Saturday that traditional hunters known as Dozos fought alongside Ouattara's forces and took part in the killing of 330 people in the western town of Duékoué.
Troops loyal to Ouattara, the widely recognised winner of last November's election, launched an offensive early this week to dislodge Gbagbo after his continued refusal to accept the result of the UN-certified poll.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday that at least 800 people had been killed in Duékoué this week. It was not clear whether the 330 counted by ONUCI was included in that figure.
The UN said its secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, had spoken to Ouattara, who told him his forces were not involved in the Duékoué killings.
Speaking on France24 television, Guillaume Ngefa, the deputy head of UNOCI's human rights division, blamed 220 of the deaths on pro-Ouattara forces. He said the killings happened between Monday and Wednesday as pro-Ouattara troops advanced southward.
He said pro-Gbagbo militia fighters killed more than 110 people.
A statement from Ouattara's administration said: "The government notes with regret that the allegations of the deputy chief of ONUCI human rights division are not supported by any evidence after its preliminary investigation."
It also denied that Dozos made up part of its forces.
After quickly taking control of swathes of the country, pro-Ouattara forces have met fierce resistance over the past three days.
Troops loyal to Gbagbo have held on to positions around the presidential palace in Abidjan, Gbagbo's residence, and state television headquarters.
In Paris, the French defence ministry said French troops had taken control of Abidjan's airport and that the country planned to send an additional 300 troops to Ivory Coast.
After a day and night of intense fighting, Abidjan was calm on Sunday morning with sporadic gunfire, residents said. Heavy cannon fire and shooting were heard overnight in the pro-Gbagbo neighbourhood of Yopougon and also in Cocody, they added.
More than 1,300 people have been killed so far in the post-election violence.
The Catholic charity Caritas said in a statement that teams visiting Duékoué reported that 1,000 people had been killed or "disappeared".
Sourcs: http://www.guardian.co.uk
