Chad Won't Impede Aid Groups Despite Arrests

N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) Nov. 1st. -- Chad assured humanitarian groups Wednesday that it would not hinder their efforts along the border with Darfur because of charges that a French group kidnapped children whom it falsely labeled orphans from the conflict. Seventeen Europeans have been detained since Thursday after authorities thwarted an attempt by a group calling itself Zoe's Ark to fly the African children to Europe, where the group said it intended to place them with host families.

Six French citizens were charged with kidnapping, raising concerns that the government could restrict the work of humanitarian organizations. Chad said humanitarian efforts would continue unimpeded. "Anyone not implicated in this affair ... and who work in other humanitarian assistance organizations, need not concern themselves with, nor be concerned by, those who would substitute themselves for justice to fill their empty accounts," said a statement attributed to Communications Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor and read on national radio Wednesday. He reiterated that the case would have no bearing on a European Union plan to deploy 3,000 peacekeepers to protect refugees in strife-torn regions of Chad and neighboring Central African Republic.The French Foreign Ministry and others have cast doubt on the claims by the little-known group that the children are Darfur orphans, suggesting many are from Chad and their parents are still alive. If convicted, the six French nationals face up to 20 years in Chadian prison with hard labor. Three French journalists traveling with the Zoe's Ark members and a seven-member flight crew were charged with complicity in the alleged crime. A Belgian pilot is also under detention, but hasn't been charged. French Justice Minister Rachida Dati said France and Chad had an agreement that would enable the French nationals to face trial at home, but added that Chad had not yet chosen to act on it.

More than 300,000 Darfur refugees are living in camps along the Sudanese border, having fled four years of conflict that has left more than 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced from their homes. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Tuesday criticized the French group and expressed hope that the case didn't discredit other nongovernmental organizations doing "remarkable work" in Chad and Darfur -- "and which now are suffering suspicion and violence."

Zoe's Ark was founded in 2005 by volunteer firefighter Eric Breteau. According to its Web site, the group announced in April an operation for "evacuating orphans from Darfur." The group launched an appeal for host families and funding. Established French aid and adoption agencies raised questions about how the group could legally organize adoption of children from Darfur, and alerted French judicial authorities, according to French newspaper reports. The French Foreign Ministry in August warned families to be careful about involvement in the group's operation. Still, some 300 families reportedly signed up to adopt or foster children, and many were waiting at a French airport last week for the children when they heard members of the group had been arrested. The charity said its intentions were purely humanitarian.
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