CHAD: Chad president says he hopes French journalists and Spanish air hostesses in children case will soon be released

Chad president says he hopes French journalists and Spanish air hostesses in children case will soon be released. Chadian families try to find their children, as U.N. says most children not orphans. Capa TV published a video shot by journalist Marc Garmirian in an attempt to show that he was doing his job and not helping the charity. Chad's president said on Thursday (November 1) he hoped some French and Spanish nationals detained for trying to fly African children to Europe could be freed soon, as U.N. officials said many of the infants were not orphans. The central African country is holding nine French nationals, including two journalists, and seven Spanish air crew after blocking an attempt by French charity Zoe's Ark to fly out 103 children for foster care by European families. U.N. officials said information from Red Cross interviews with the children contradicted statements by Zoe's Ark, which said they were sick and destitute orphans from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region. "91 of them told us that they have been living with their family, and they would like to go back to their family, and the next step will be just to trace these families to reunify the children with them," Annette Rehrl of U.N. refugee agency UNHCR told Reuters in the eastern Chadian town of Abeche. Zoe's Ark, which has denied any wrongdoing and said it was operating under international law, was not immediately available for comment. Some of the families in Europe said they had paid up to 2,000 euros or more as a "donation". Speaking to reporters in Abeche, Chadian President Idriss Deby promised a quick investigation and held out the possibility that some of those arrested might soon be released. "I assure that I had a long telephone conversation with president Sarkozy yesterday. On my part, I hope that the Chadian justice system can quickly shed light on this and that the journalists and also the (Spanish) hostesses will be freed as soon as possible," Deby said. The French have been charged with abduction and fraud and face possible forced labour terms of up to 20 years if convicted. A Spanish pilot, a Belgian pilot and six Spanish crew members of the plane have been charged as accessories. One of the French journalists, Marc Garmirian, was filming a documentary on the charity when they were arrested. Capa TV, the news agency Garmirian works for, released a first video on Monday (October 29) in an attempt to show that he was actually doing his job and not trying to help them. In a second video published on Thursday (November 1) two members of "Zoe's Ark" answered questions about the legitimacy of their work. Deby was less hopeful about the quick release of the Spanish pilot, saying he believed there was "complicity". Deby said the case would not hurt relations with former colonial power France, which has troops stationed in Chad and is due to provide the bulk of a European Union peacekeeping force to be deployed soon in the east. Officials from the UNHCR, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been caring for the children, 21 girls and 82 boys aged between one and 10 years, at an Abeche orphanage. Some of the children have told journalists their parents were alive and they were lured from villages on the Chad-Sudan border in recent weeks with offers of sweets or schooling. "Six people came to the village, including four French. Two of them were women. They told us 'We are taking your children to Abeche to go to school, we will bring them back in one week'," Halimi, a widow whose three children were among 13 children taken from a village in Tine district, told reporters in Abeche. She said she spent six days travelling to Abeche after hearing about the Zoe's Ark children on the radio last week. The case has triggered outrage among Chadians, with many on the barren border with Sudan questioning the motives of scores of foreign aid groups that work with Darfur refugees.

ITN Source | November 2, 2007

Tags:. .union. .troops. .documentary. .plane. .blocking