/ 31 March 2008

Chad president pardons jailed French aid workers

Chad President Idriss Déby Itno on Monday granted an official pardon for six French aid workers jailed in December for abducting children from the landlocked Central African country, Chad state radio said.

The six members of the Zoe’s Ark charity were sentenced to eight years’ hard labour by a Chadian court late last year after it convicted them of trying to fly 103 African children to Europe without permission from the authorities.

The charity workers, who had denied the charges, were flown back to France in late December and were serving their prison sentences there under a cooperation agreement.

In their court testimony in Chad, the convicted six had said they believed they were trying to rescue war orphans from the conflict-torn Darfur region of Chad’s eastern neighbour Sudan. But United Nations and Chadian officials said most of the children were not orphans and came from Chadian border villages.

France’s diplomatic and military support helped Déby weather a rebel assault on the capital, Ndjamena, in early February, and the Chadian leader has since made it clear that he was ready to pardon the French aid workers.

Chad’s Higher Judicial Council, which advises Déby on legal matters, on Friday gave him the formal go-ahead to issue the official pardon. — Reuters