Chad Receives Pardon Request for French Aid Worker

Chadian President Idriss Deby said on Wednesday he would consider pardoning the aid workers if France requested it.

Chad has received a request for a presidential pardon from the lawyers of six French aid workers jailed in December for trying to abduct 103 African children, the presidency said on Saturday.

The members of the French humanitarian organisation Zoe's Ark were sentenced to eight years' hard labour by a court in N'Djamena but have been allowed to serve their sentence in a French prison under a legal cooperation agreement.

In an apparent gesture of gratitude for French support following a rebel assault on his capital last weekend, Chadian President Idriss Deby said on Wednesday he would consider pardoning the aid workers if France requested it.

"These requests will be considered at the appropriate time, in accordance with the constitution and the relevant texts," read a statement from the presidency.

It did not provide further details.

The six activists were arrested in eastern Chad in October for attempting to transport the children to Europe without permission from the authorities.

Zoe's Ark said it was rescuing orphans from Sudan's Darfur region, a conflict zone across Chad's eastern border, and that it intended to fly them to Europe for fostering there.

Most of the children were found to have come from families in Chadian border villages who were persuaded to give up their offspring in exchange for promises of education. Aid workers said some of the children had been dressed with bandages but had no injuries underneath.