France seeks return of kidnappers

PARIS, France (AP) -- France has asked Chad to hand over six French charity workers convicted and sentenced to eight years' forced labor for trying to kidnap 103 children from the central African country.

The six workers from the charity group Zoe's Ark, charged with fraud and kidnapping, were convicted and sentenced on Wednesday by a court in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena.

French Justice Minister Rachida Dati said in a statement on Thursday that the repatriation request had been filed with her Chadian counterpart.

Such requests are allowed under a 1976 judicial accord between the two countries.

France does not have forced labor for convicts, so there are hopes that if the six are returned, the French justice system will commute or reduce their sentences.

But Chadian Justice Minister Albert Pahimi Padake said his country would have the last word.

"What is clear is that any commutation of the sentence in this domain cannot be done without the accord of the Chadian authorities," Padake told French radio RTL.

In October, Chadian authorities stopped the aid group's convoy with the children, whom the charity was planning to fly to France.

The six insisted they were driven by compassion to help orphans in Darfur, which borders Chad. Later investigations showed most of the children had at least one parent or close adult relative.
Watch a report on how the events unfolded »

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, from his vacation getaway in Egypt, instructed his diplomatic adviser Jean-David Levitte to meet with family members of the six on Thursday, the presidential palace said.

The case has embarrassed France and sparked protests in Chad, a former French colony.

Aid workers say their already difficult job along Darfur's border has been complicated by the suspicion some Chadians now have toward all foreigners professing to offer help.

Days after the Zoe's Ark workers were arrested, the Republic of Congo announced it was suspending all international adoptions because of the events in Chad.

France's role in the region has already come under scrutiny in recent months as the European Union plans to send a military mission to Chad to protect refugees fleeing violence in neighboring Sudan.

The deployment of the approximate 4,300-member force, drawn largely from France, has already been delayed because of lack of necessary equipment.

Last month, a Chadian rebel group declared a "state of war" against French and other foreign armies -- an apparent warning to the EU force. E-mail to a friend

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