Sarkozy brings seven freed Europeans home from Chad
PARIS (AFP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy brought home seven Europeans 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 (2300 GMT Sunday) 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.
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.
The release of the seven Europeans came after Deby last week said he hoped the journalists and air hostesses would be freed soon, adopting a more conciliatory tone after his initial outrage over the charity's operation.
The Chadian president had accused Zoe's Ark of trying to "sell" the children to "paedophile NGOs" and attempting to "kill them for their organs" in remarks that brought considerable tension to relations with France.
The charity maintains it wanted to save orphans from the war in Sudan's Darfur region, across the border from Chad.
But UN humanitarian agencies and the Red Cross have cast doubt on the claims, saying most of the children were actually Chadian and may not have been orphans at all.
The French newspaper Le Parisien quoted a Chadian father on Sunday who put his three children in the care of Zoe's Ark after he was told that they would be educated in a newly built school.
"They never said they would take away our children," he said.
The six remaining French nationals face charges of attempted kidnapping, while three other Spanish flight crew members are accused of complicity.
A 75-year-old Belgian pilot who flew the children from the Sudanese border to Abeche has also been charged with complicity.
If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 20 years of forced labour.
Chadian judges complained that they had been pressured into ordering the release, with one lawyer saying on condition of anonymity that "we could not allow Nicolas Sarkozy to leave empty-handed."
The return of the seven Europeans marked a diplomatic coup for Sarkozy after the affair threatened to sour relations with Chad, a former colony that now hosts a large French military base in a volatile area of central Africa.
