By Paul Welsh BBC West Africa correspondent

Bus-loads of people leaving Ivory Coast for the safety of their own country say they have been fired on during their journey.

The convoy into neighbouring Mali was the first of a new evacuation programme by the Malian Government.

Other countries in the region have also been taking home their citizens most at risk.

Rebels control half of Ivory Coast

Some of the 800 who arrived in Mali in the convoy had cuts from flying glass and said their buses were fired on by armed men at checkpoints in Ivory Coast.

Ten buses took them from the western Ivory Coast town of Daloa - scene of some of the worst fighting in the country's uprising and some of the worst allegations of attacks on foreigners.

The human rights organisation Amnesty International say 26 Malians were slaughtered when Daloa was retaken by the government last month.

Exodus

Foreigners became a target when the Ivory Coast Government said a neighbouring country had been assisting the rebels who began their uprising over eight weeks ago.

Mali planned to take home 10,000 people most at risk.

The other northern neighbour of Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, is pulling out 7,000 and Nigeria has already rescued 2,000.

But the evacuations will only help a small proportion of immigrant workers.

One third of Ivory Coast's population is made up of people drawn from nearby countries to work in the region's strongest economy.

There is a steady stream of people leaving by their own means and European embassies have evacuation plans too in case peace talks break down.

The government of Ivory Coast denies that it is targeting foreigners. It says its fight is with the rebels.