Spanish minister off to Chad

2007-11-09 11:37

Madrid - A Spanish minister flew to the Chadian capital on Friday hoping to secure the release of three Spaniards held over an alleged bid to kidnap 103 children by a French charity, said a diplomatic source.

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Bernardino Leon took a special plane to N'Djamena early on Friday, the source said.

The three detained Spaniards were all flight crew on the chartered plane that was stopped on October 25 before it could bring the children from Chad to France.

Hopes had risen that the three remaining Spaniards in detention could be freed after the head of the French charity at the centre of the controversy told a judge that the Spanish pilot and fellow crew were not part of the plans to take the children to a French military base for treatment.

Six French nationals, all members of the Arche de Zoe (Zoe's Ark) charity, a Belgian pilot and four Chadians were also still held over the controversy.

Jacques Wilmart, the 75-year-old Belgian pilot, suffered a heart attack on Thursday and was moved from a jail in N'Djamena to a French military base.

Zoe's Ark had insisted it was trying to rescue the children from Sudan's conflict stricken Darfur region. Aid workers and French officials had said the children were not orphans and came mostly from Chad.

- AFP