Chad: We'll still help Darfur
2007-10-31 12:42
N'Djamena - Chad offered assurances on Wednesday that the alleged kidnapping of 103 African children from the remote borderlands with Sudan would not hinder humanitarian efforts aimed at helping hundreds of thousands of refugees in the region.
Seventeen Europeans had been detained since Thursday after authorities scotched an attempt by a French 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 organisations.
But Chad said humanitarian efforts would continue unimpeded, although Chad's President Idriss Deby said he was shocked at the group's activities, according to a statement posted on the government's website.
EU to deploy 3 000 troops
A statement attributed to Communications Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor and read on national radio said: "Anyone not implicated in this affair ... and who work in other humanitarian assistance organisations, need not concern themselves with, nor be concerned by, those who would substitute themselves for justice to fill their empty accounts."
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 neighbouring Central African Republic.
The French Foreign Ministry and others had cast doubt on the claims by the little-known group that the children were Darfur orphans, suggesting many were from Chad and their parents were still alive.
If convicted, the six French nationals, who were charged on Monday, faced up to 20 years in Chadian prison with hard labour.
200 000 people killed
Three French journalists travelling with the Zoe's Ark members and a seven-member flight crew were charged with complicity in the alleged crime. A Belgian pilot was also under detention, but hadn't been charged.
More than 300 000 Darfur refugees were living in camps along the Sudanese border, having fled four years of conflict that had left more than 200 000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced from their homes.
The terrain along the edge of the Sahara Desert, where the Darfur refugees were squatting was among the remotest and least hospitable anywhere.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Tuesday criticised the group and expressed hope that the case didn't discredit other non-governmental organisations doing "remarkable work" in Chad and Darfur - "and which now are suffering suspicion and violence".
- AP