Six French humanitarian workers accused of trying to kidnap 103 African children go on trial in Chad on Friday as speculation grows that a diplomatic deal could send them back to France.
Although the accused risk forced labour sentences if convicted, Chadian lawyers and many citizens believe they will either be able to serve their jail terms in France under bilateral judicial accords or benefit from a pardon from Chadian President Idriss Déby.
The six are members of a humanitarian group called Zoe’s Ark who were stopped in late October from flying the children, aged one to 10, out of eastern Chad to Europe. Chad said they had no authorisation to take the infants out of the country.
The French deny the kidnapping and fraud charges against them and have been on hunger strike, refusing food but drinking water. They will be tried in an N’Djamena court along with three Chadians and a Sudanese national accused of being accomplices.
The case has embarrassed France, which supports Déby’s rule in landlocked, oil-producing Chad. It has troops stationed in its former colony and is providing the bulk of a European Union peacekeeping force to be deployed in east Chad in January.
Many Chadians angrily reject what they see as political meddling in the affair by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. They expect a quick trial that will end with either pardon for the accused or quick extradition back to France.
”It’s possible that all this will be over before December 25. There’s politics behind this case,” one Chadian magistrate, who asked not to be named, said.
Speculation that a diplomatic deal is in the offing has increased after Sarkozy met Déby in Lisbon during a summit of European and African leaders 10 days ago. They discussed the case and expressed a ”common will to resolve the situation”.
Déby, whose army enjoys logistical and intelligence support from French aircraft and troops to counter eastern rebels fighting to topple him, faces popular pressure inside Chad for an exemplary trial of the six French.
”We can’t accept that foreigners come here to steal our children. It’s inhuman … They should also experience our jails,” said Zenaba, an office secretary.
Anti-French protests
The accused three men and three women deny any wrongdoing, saying they were on a humanitarian mission to save sick orphans from Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region for fostering in Europe.
But Chadian and UN officials say most of the children were not orphans, were generally in good health and came from settlements straddling the Chad-Sudan frontier.
Sarkozy has said he would prefer to see the six tried in France. He flew to Chad early last month to accept the release of three French journalists and four Spanish flight attendants who were originally detained along with the Zoe’s Ark members.
Chad’s government also freed the three remaining Spanish aircrew of the airliner chartered by the group to fly the children out of Chad. A Belgian pilot was also released.
The releases sparked anti-French protests in N’Djamena, but defence lawyers remain quietly hopeful.
”If there is a Déby-Sarkozy deal, and they can return to France after the trial, so much the better,” said Gilbert Collard, one of the defence team of the Zoe’s Ark group.
Some Chadians believe it would be unfair for the Europeans to be given special treatment.
”Have you ever seen an African sent back home after committing a crime as serious as the one committed by the members of Zoe’s Ark? It’s our honour that’s at stake,” said one government official, who asked not to be named. – Reuters