The Chadian children who were caught up in a trafficking scandal are on the way back to their families.
The 103 children have spent the last five months in an orphanage in Chad, following attempts by a French charity to fly them to Europe for adoption.
Most of the children - 83 of them - have now left the orphanage and have boarded coaches taking them home.
Others, who live in more remote areas of Chad, will be reunited with their families in the coming days.
The operation is being co-ordinated by the UN's children fund, Unicef, and the Chadian authorities.
Lessons to be learnt
At a farewell ceremony held at the orphanage in the eastern town of Abeche, Unicef's representative in Chad, Mariam Ndiaye, promised the organisation would continue to support the children.
The children were taken into care last October, immediately after the scandal broke.
"This provides the Chadian government with the opportunity to see how many children are abandoned without education."
A French charity, Zoe's Arc, had been about to fly them to France, saying they were war orphans from Darfur in Sudan.
Six Zoe's Arc activists were found guilty of attempted kidnapping by a Chadian court in December, and are now serving eight-year jail sentences in a French prison.
The BBC's Stephanie Hancock says most of the parents agreed to hand over their children because they understood they would be getting a free education - they say there was never any mention of adoption or taking the children out of Chad.
Speaking to the children as they were about to leave the orphanage, Chadian social affairs minister Ngarmbatina Carmel Sou said lessons should be learnt from the affair:
"This provides the Chadian government with the opportunity to see how many children are abandoned without education," she said.
Five children who are of Sudanese origin, and one whose identity is unknown, will temporary be placed in the care of the Red Cross.
The reuniting of the children with their families was delayed for legal reasons.
It was also hampered by arguments between Chad and France over financial compensation.
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