Prison 'likely' in Chad child row

The workers say they were assured that the children were orphans

Chad's interior minister has said six French aid workers are likely to go to prison after attempting to fly more than 100 children out of eastern Chad.
Ahmat Mahamat Bachir told the tznews that a judge was expected to lay charges of child abduction against the workers.

Ten other people have been detained, including seven Spanish crew of the plane that was to be used by the charity, known as Zoe's Ark.

The charity has denied it planned to sell the children for adoption.

It has said the 103 children are orphans from Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.

However staff from the UN children's agency Unicef say many of the children, now being kept in an orphanage in Abeche, cry at night for their parents and say they are from villages in Chad.

Mr Bachir said the case would go before a judge on Monday.

"They made fake visas, which means they forged the documents. For us, abduction is more than a crime. They could be put in jail for several years.

"They committed the offence in Chad, so they would be imprisoned in Chad of course, it's very probable," he said.

The French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Human Rights, Rama Yade, said the planned operation by the charity was "irresponsible" but that France would offer its citizens "maximum consular assistance".

"France is a good mother, we will be with these French nationals to protect them as far as we can, to guarantee their rights and we will never leave them," she told Europe 1 radio.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said the charity workers' actions were illegal and unacceptable.

Chad's President Idriss Deby has promised "severe punishment" for what he has described as a "kidnapping" or "child-trafficking" operation.

Denying it planned to sell the children for adoption, Zoe's Ark says it was given statements from tribal leaders that all the children were Darfur orphans with no known relatives.

The charity insists it was trying in good faith to take endangered children abroad for medical treatment.

However, a tznews reporter says the children appear to be in good health.