By Dany Padire
Associated Press
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

N'DJAMENA, Chad, Oct. 30 -- Chad charged six French citizens with kidnapping after they tried to fly 103 African children out of the remote border region with Sudan, bandaging them to look injured and asserting they were Darfur orphans in need of rescue.

The case threatens to impede aid efforts for hundreds of thousands of refugees from Darfur, the war-torn region of western Sudan, and intensify local suspicions about the motives of aid workers.

Seventeen Europeans have been detained since Thursday, when authorities blocked an attempt by a French group calling itself Zoe's Ark to fly the African children to Europe, where they were to be placed with host families.

The French Foreign Ministry and others have cast doubt on assertions by the little-known group that the children are Darfur orphans.

"According to initial information . . . there seem to be many Chadian children and even many who are not orphans," French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani told reporters in Paris on Tuesday.

A statement posted on the Chadian government's Web site said President Idriss Deby was "shocked by the acts of Zoe's Ark, which is trafficking children under cover of humanitarian assistance."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday he told Deby by telephone that his government "condemns these activities."

The Zoe's Ark workers "were wrong to do what they did," Sarkozy said during a visit to the island of Corsica. "Why were these children picked up and to what end? That's what we must know now."

French Prime Minister Fran¿ois Fillon condemned the group's activities and expressed hope they wouldn't discredit other nongovernmental organizations doing "remarkable work" in Chad and Darfur, "and which now are suffering suspicion."

The group used the name Children Rescue while working in Chad.

Zoe's Ark was founded in 2005 by a volunteer firefighter, Eric Breteau, who said it was named after a girl orphaned by the December 2004 Asian tsunami. The group, registered as a nongovernmental organization with the French authorities, sought to aid children affected by the tsunami and brought a boy to France for an operation.

According to its Web site, the group announced plans in April for "evacuating orphans from Darfur," appealing for donations and host families on the Internet.

Established French aid and adoption agencies raised questions about the group's plans and alerted French judicial authorities, according to French news reports.

The French Foreign Ministry warned families in August to be careful about the group. The group initially promised some families that they could adopt -- not merely host -- children from Darfur, French officials have said.

About 300 families reportedly signed up, and many were waiting at a French airport last week for the children when they heard that members of the group had been arrested. News reports said some of the children wore phony bandages to make them appear injured and in need of help.

French news reports have said the group raised $792,000 for the thwarted operation, including the costs of chartering the plane.

Christophe Letien, a spokesman for the group, insisted its intentions were humanitarian.