Chad:Sixteen Europeans held in Chad on child abduction and fraud charges could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted, Chadian authorities have said.
Nine French nationals - six members of a charity named Zoe's Ark and three journalists - have been charged with "kidnapping minors" and fraud for attempting to fly more than 100 children from eastern Chad to France. On arrival, they were to be placed in host families, each paying the charity several thousand euro.
Seven Spanish aircraft crew and two Chadian nationals were charged with complicity in an operation the charity insists was well-intentioned. A Belgian pilot is also being held but is not reported to be facing charges at present.
If convicted, the 16 suspects face up to 20 years in jail with hard labour, interior minister Ahmat Bachir said yesterday.
It is expected they will be transferred to the capital N'Djamena later this week. Reporters allowed to visit the detainees yesterday said they appeared dishevelled. One of the French men was reported to have made a gesture of hitting his face with his fist to indicate he had been beaten in custody. Another lay on the floor, seemingly in pain, while a colleague examined him.
All 16 were arrested in the eastern town of Abeche last Thursday as they prepared to board 103 children on to a chartered flight to France. The aid workers claim the children, aged between one and 10, were presented to them as orphans from the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan. Eastern Chad is home to more than 200,000 Darfuri refugees, as well as about 173,000 people displaced by local unrest.
However, the French foreign ministry has acknowledged that most of the children appear to be from Chad, not Sudan, and did not seem to be orphans.
The episode has provoked much anger in Chad. President Idriss Deby has described the operation as "pure and simple abduction", and promised severe punishment for those responsible. In reports broadcast on local television, he speculated that the children could have ended up in a paedophile ring or been sold as organ donors.
"These people . . . treat us like animals. So this is the image of the saviour Europe, which gives lessons to our countries. This is the image of Europe which helps Africans," Mr Deby was quoted as saying on the presidential website.
Local media said dozens of protesters surrounded the court house in Abeche as the Europeans were being charged, shouting "thieves, killers", and accusing France of being an "accomplice".
The incident has prompted a crackdown on the movements of foreigners in Chad. Since Monday, aid workers and journalists hoping to fly from N'Djamena to towns in the eastern region of Chad have been told that their permits allowing internal travel have been cancelled. Humanitarian organisations fear that the incident could taint the image of all NGOs working in Chad and lead to increased restrictions. A number of aid agencies in Abeche have had their offices or vehicles stoned in recent days.
"In the short term we are worried that all organisations will be seen in the same light," one aid worker told The Irish Times. "In the long term this could be used as a control mechanism and a way to make our lives harder."
Gilbert Collard, a lawyer for Zoe's Ark, has accused Chad's government of exploiting the situation for political ends.
In France, the government is under pressure to explain why it failed to prevent the operation from going ahead. Zoe's Ark is being investigated for illegal adoption and officials say they warned the charity's directors they would be breaking the law if they proceeded with the plan.
The crisis comes at an inopportune time. Earlier this year France led efforts to press for an EU force to protect refugees who have fled to Chad from Darfur, a proposal initially resisted by the Chadian government. The predominantly French force, also expected to include more than 300 Irish troops, is preparing for deployment within the next month.