Cease-fire agreed in Ivory Coast

Students from the International Christian Academy board a U.S. C-130 in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, Thursday.

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VIDEO Students and school staff caught in the crossfire are flown out of Ivory Coast. (September 26) PLAY VIDEO RELATED • Interactive: Ivory Coast facts  • Gallery: Students evacuated  • On the scene: Ivory Coast evacuation  INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN ACADEMY Established in 1962 Operated by Conservative Baptist International to provide what it calls "a United States standard education for the children of missionaries in West Africa." About 200 students from 15 countries Campus includes classroom buildings, dormitories, chapel, gym, library, dining hall and administrative building.

YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast (CNN) -- French troops have negotiated a 48-hour cease-fire with rebel troops, giving foreign nationals the opportunity to leave the war-torn country.

Earlier on Thursday, 22 students rescued from a religious school in Bouake took off aboard a U.S. military C-130 aircraft.

Elite French troops who are in control of the airport said a convoy of German, French, and British citizens was on its way to the airport for an airlift to Ghana.

"Our mission is to make sure that all our nationals are evacuated," said French Colonel Charles de Kersabic.

About 200 students and staff members from the International Christian Academy, most of them Americans, were rescued by French troops on Wednesday after their school was caught in a crossfire between rebels and government troops.

The group was brought to a U.S. reception centren the country's capital city.

The 22 students who left on Thursday were given the choice of leaving immediately. They were being flown to neighbouring Ghana and then on to a final destination to be determined.

A U.S. military spokesman said that there were no other requests to fly students or family members from the religious school or other U.S. citizens out of the country, but the military continued to stand by for requests by the U.S. embassy.

Waving American flags, about 200 students and staff members left the school on Wednesday in a convoy of cars, trucks and mini-buses and travelled to Yamoussoukro.

As the students and staff prepared to leave, Michele Cousineau, an academy official, said that gunfire, which had been heavy on Tuesday, had stopped after the French troops arrived. He said no-one at the school had been hurt.

U.S. troops landed at Yamoussoukro on Wednesday morning from neighbouring Ghana, ready to assist the relocated children and staff.

Cmdr. James Graybeal, a spokesman for the U.S. European Command in Germany said the U.S. forces were deployed to Ghana Tuesday "to be in a position to provide for the safety for American citizens" in the Ivory Coast.

The school was threatened by a military insurgency that began in the West African nation last Thursday. Rebels and government troops exchanged heavy gunfire and mortar shelling around the school.

French troops secured the school -- which was not believed to be a target of the fighting -- early on Wednesday. They had secured an airport about 40 miles from the school and moved in on a road near the campus.

The school serves the children of missionaries in West Africa. There were 160 schoolchildren -- including 101 Americans ages six to 18 -- on the campus along with 39 other people -- staff and their children, some of whom are infants.

The U.S. State Department Thursday issued a revised travel warning for the country, citing the continued fighting between rebels and government forces, and authorized the departure of family members of embassy staffers and non-emergency personnel. The warning urged that all Americans still in the country leave as soon as possible.

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