CHAD: Protests in Chad as Belgian pilot caught in child abduction case flies home

Protests continued in Chad's capital N'Djamena on Saturday (November 10) after the release of three members of a Spanish air crew and a 74-year-old Belgian pilot, who had been detained over an attempt by a humanitarian activist group to fly 103 African children to Europe. The Spanish crew is the second group of Europeans to be freed from among 17 detained in late October in eastern Chad. Four Spanish female flight attendants and three French journalists were released by Chad on Sunday and flown home with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had travelled to Chad to discuss the case with Chadia President Idriss Deby. Throughout the week small crowds gathered in front of the N'Djamena court, to protest against French President Nicolas Sarkozy's declaration that he will arrange for the remaining prisoners to be tried in France. They also demanded that the first prisoners to be released return back to Chad to face trial. Soldiers watched as protesters took to the streets holding papers saying things like, "Arrogant Sarkozy, you are not our president, we are an independent nation." A law student taking part in the protest had a message for French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "I can say to him that Chad is an independent country, and that we are capable of judging these French, or better called criminals, on our territory here in Chad," Kemnan Dedepe said. The Belgian pilot flew home on Saturday. Jacques Wilmart arrived at the airport in an ambulance. He'd suffered heart problems late on Thursday had been recovering at a French military base. Wilmart had flown the children from the Sudanese border area to the eastern Chadian town of Abeche, from where a Spanish charter flight was due to carry them to France. Wilmart said he had no regrets. "I followed my conscience. My purpose was to save the children. ... One can imprison people but one will never be able to change their ideas," he said. The six French citizens still in custody have been charged with fraud and abduction. Chad says the Zoe's Ark group, which had contracted the Spanish air crew, did not have permission to take the children out of the country. U.N. officials say most of the children aged 1-10 came from villages on the Chad-Sudan border and had at least one living parent.

ITN Source | November 10, 2007

Tags:. .able. .fly. .due. .prisoners. .judging