Chad kidnap accused 'were duped'

The case has sparked anti-French protests in Chad

One of six French aid workers charged in Chad with abducting children has told a court they were duped to believe the youngsters were Darfur war orphans.

Local intermediaries had assured the Zoe's Ark aid workers the children were from Darfur, Emilie Lelouch claimed.

But a Sudanese co-defendant criticised the French workers, saying the six had concealed plans to take the youngsters back to France.

They deny wrongdoing, and could face 20 years' hard labour if convicted.

Ms Lelouch told the second day of the trial on Saturday in Chad's capital, N'Djamena, that the operation was aimed at evacuating war orphans from the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur.

'No doubt'

"I never had any doubt whatsoever about [the children's] Sudanese origins," she was quoted as saying by Associated Press news agency.

Tight security as trial starts

Three Chadians and a Sudanese man are also charged with fraud and abduction after officials stopped a convoy on 25 October carrying 103 children that the charity were planning to fly to France.

Investigators found out most of the children were Chadians who lived with at least one parent or close relative.

The families have told police that they were not told their children were about to be taken abroad.

They have claimed that the aid workers misled them into believing the youngsters would be offered temporary local school places.

'Tricked'

Ms Lelouch and another Zoe's Ark member, Nadia Merimi Aubry, denied this.

But the families' account has been confirmed by a journalist who accompanied the aid workers.

The claims by the charity's staff were also contradicted by fellow accused, Souleimane Ibrahim Adam, who denies helping kidnap 63 of the children.

He told the court: "[The aid workers] tricked me. They told me [the children] were going to remain. Had I known it was to take the children elsewhere, I wouldn't have agreed."

More than a week ago, the aid workers began a hunger strike in protest at their treatment.

The case has sparked protests in the oil-producing former French colony amid claims the charity workers might benefit from special treatment because they are Europeans.

Analysts have speculated a diplomatic deal could be struck to allow the French to return home after the verdict.