Sarkozy brings home Chad 7
2007-11-05 09:18
Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy brought home seven Europeans on Sunday who had been jailed in Chad over a charity's attempt to fly some 100 children to France.
The three French journalists and four Spanish air hostesses, among 17 Europeans accused of attempted kidnapping in the case, had earlier been freed by a Chadian judge.
The foreigners were jailed along with four Chadians after the French charity Zoe's Ark was stopped from flying 103 children on October 25 from eastern Chad to France where they were to be placed in the care of host families.
Sarkozy flew to Chad and held talks with his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby Itno before bringing the seven home, stopping first at a military airport near Madrid to drop off the Spanish air hostesses.
Shortly before midnight, Sarkozy touched down outside Paris with Marc Garmirian of the Capa television news agency, Jean-Daniel Guillou of the Synchro X photo agency and Marie-Agnes Peleran from France 3 television.
The three journalists did not make a statement at their arrival at Villacoublay military airport but Garmirian thanked the press for its support.
"It has helped me a lot," he said. "I'm not going to break down now."
"We thank you all, if we made it it is certainly also because of you," he added.
He also thanked "the French government, the French military who brought us food every day, (media rights watchdog) Reporters Without Borders, the Chadians who helped us (...) yes, there were some."
Peleran later said they would react to the controversy surrounding Zoe's Ark action "tomorrow or within the next days".
In Spain, Sarkozy and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero thanked the Chad president for his "help and his understanding" as well as his "positive attitude" during the crisis.
Relations not affected
Earlier in Chad, Sarkozy said he hoped the six remaining French nationals - all volunteers for the charity - would face trial in France and recognised that Zoe's Ark had acted "so very badly".
He had warmly thanked Deby at the end of his two-hour snap visit, saying the Chadian leader could count on his "gratitude and friendship" and promising to return to N'Djamena in February for an official visit.
Sarkozy stressed the affair would not affect relations between the two countries or derail plans to deploy a European force to protect refugees in Chad and in the neighbouring Central African Republic.
"Relations between Chad and France are fine and this deplorable venture has nothing to do with the deployment of a European force at the border with Sudan," Sarkozy said at a joint news conference with Deby.