Around 200 United Nations employees are evacuating their Ivory Coast base after frequent attacks on the headquarters by forces loyal to embattled leader Laurent Gbagbo.
After being asked to leave on Sunday, staff were flown by helicopter from their downtown base to the airport, and then to the northern city of Bouake, an anonymous source at the organization told The Associated Press.
Although non-essential employees were already evacuated several months ago, this departure order was for all essential employees.
UN military personnel are still in Ivory Coast and a French military force in the Ivory Coast secured the airport early Saturday.
The announcements come after dramatic scenes in the country yesterday when rebel forces closed in on Gbagbo's palace as he called on everyone from the police to forest rangers to come to his defence.
The country continues to be rocked by heavy fighting and reports that more than 1,000 people have been massacred.
Though his forces are rapidly losing ground to those of the country's democratically elected leader, Alassane Ouattara, Gbagbo made a significant gain on Saturday morning when his supporters re-took control of the state television station in Abidjan, the largest city in the West African nation.
A disheveled TV announcer said Gbagbo was at his residence and that it had not been attacked -- even as rebels advanced through the city, exchanging heavy machine-gun fire with pro-Gbagbo forces near the palace.
The camera shook and soldiers could be seen milling on the set as they called on police, military, customs officers, coast guard and forest rangers to report for duty to protect the embattled ruler.
The news ticker called on a youth militia allied with Gbagbo to seize control of two bridges that lead to the presidential palace. They arrived by the hundreds, singing and wielding clubs.
Gbagbo has not been seen in public since the rebel offensive began five days ago. His location could not be confirmed.
The Ivory Coast has this week seen a lightning advance by rebels as they seized the administrative capital of Duekoue on Wednesday before heading to Abidjan.
Amid the fighting there were reports that more than 1,000 people were recently massacred in a mass killing. The Roman Catholic charity Caritas says more than 1,000 people were killed in the town of Duekoue this week. One of the charity's spokespeople told the media that workers visited the town on Wednesday and saw bodies hacked to death with machetes.
The International Federation of the Red Cross confirmed the incident, but reported fewer bodies, saying the number was about 800 adding that it believed the incident occurred on Tuesday.
"Our people arrived in Duekoue after being informed that there had been clashes," Kalnor Panglungshang, of the International Red Cross, told CTV News on Saturday.
"Upon arrival they saw on the roads corpses, dead bodies lying everywhere."
He said that while working with the local authorities and the UN they had accounted for about 800 bodies in their search.
Although accusations were levelled against Ouattara's soldiers, his government blamed the incident on Gbagbo's forces.
Gbagbo, who has ruled the country for 10 years, has refused to step down since losing a democratic election in November. Ouattara's victory was recognized first by the country's electoral commission and then by the UN.
He has been recognized by U.S. Barack Obama Barack Obama, who asked Gbagbo to step down.
UN reports say that by the time the military vehicles crossed into Abidjan early Friday, as many as 50,000 members of Gbagbo's security forces had deserted him.
With files from Associated Press
