Foreigners flee Ivory Coast
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 Hundreds of French nationals were evacuated after days of violence. CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault reports
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(CNN) -- The United Nations and France have begun mass evacuations of U.N. staff and foreign nationals following days of violence and looting in Ivory Coast, a U.N. spokesman said.
More than 20 people have been killed and hundreds wounded since the chaotic violence erupted over the weekend in a deadly clash between the Ivorian government and French peacekeepers.
The evacuation will involve thousands of "Western nationals as well as citizens from various western African countries," said U.N. spokesman John Victor Nkolo.
"Non-essential (U.N.) staff will be evacuated or relocated," Nkolo said.
The spokesman said the first plane left the country Wednesday afternoon carrying about 250 people.
U.N. and other troops -- primarily French -- will work to secure multiple evacuation sites, including embassies, hotels and military bases where thousands of French and other foreign nationals have found refuge followed looting by pro-government supporters, Nkolo said.
U.S. and other Western embassies were cooperating to safely evacuate any expatriates who want to leave, journalist Carrie Giardino said from the commercial capital Abidjan -- scene of much of the recent violence.
Twenty to 30 French troops were guarding the bridge to the airport, Giardino said, and French tanks lined the road. French and Ivorian troops were conducting joint patrols to try to restore order.
Evacuations started Wednesday morning with a convoy of 40 U.N. personnel, AP quoted U.N. spokesman Philippe Mathieu as saying.
The 40 were among more than 1,000 expatriates who have been holed up in a U.N. headquarters amid four days of looting and attacks, Mathieu said.
Another more than 1,600 foreigners who have taken refuge in a French military base in Abidjan are to be flown out.
France alone plans to evacuate between 4,000 to 8,000 of its citizens -- potentially the majority of the 14,000 French still in the former French colony, The Associated Press quoted French Embassy spokesman Francois Guenon as saying Wednesday.
"It is on a voluntary basis. We are not going to evacuate all our French citizens because they are too many," Guenon said.
"We are evaluating the number of those wanting to leave and we have between 4,000 to 8,000 French who have expressed a wish to leave whether temporarily or for good," he said.
The battles began Saturday in Abidjan after government aircraft, engaged in a low-level civil war with rebels, bombed a French position near Bouake, killing nine French soldiers and an American aid worker. The Ivorian government said the bombing was an accident.
The French responded by destroying two Ivorian Air Force planes and three helicopters, and Paris is pushing the U.N. Security Council for an arms embargo.
Tens of thousands of Ivorians roared into the streets, protesting against the French response and accusing Paris of trying to overthrow President Laurent Gbagbo. The rebels have held the north of the country since failing to overthrow Gbagbo in 2002.
Thousands massed around Abidjan's Hotel Ivoire, where French troops had erected barricades. France said it was using the facility to safeguard foreign nationals.
On Tuesday, gunfire ripped through the protesters, killing at least five people. Ivorians blamed the French, despite French and Ivorian government denials.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been engaged in attempts to broker a deal between the rebels and the government, returned Tuesday to help with further negotiations.
About 6,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 4,000 French soldiers have been trying to maintain the peace in a buffer zone between the rebel-controlled, mostly Muslim north and the government-controlled, mostly Christian south.
The government broke an already tenuous, 18-month cease-fire on Thursday, launching the latest round of violence.
The U.N. Security Council, African Union, European Union and a West African leaders bloc have all condemned Gbagbo's government in the violence.
CNN's Tony Campion contributed to this report
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
