Authorities in Chad today charged six French nationals with kidnapping after they tried to take 103 children to Europe in an incident that threatens to complicate relations between the two countries.
Seven Spanish citizens, the crew of the charter plane in the operation, were also charged with being accessories to crime, said the communications minister, Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor.
Those accused of kidnapping are the president and other members of the French charity Zoe's Ark including two journalists. The charity said it was trying to help the children, not abduct them, and that it acted legally.
European families had each paid the group several thousand euros for a child.
Zoe's Ark said the children - described as orphans from Sudan's Darfur region - would have a better life in Europe.
More than four years of conflict in Darfur has left more than 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced - many to eastern Chad.
Gilbert Collard, a lawyer for Zoe's Ark, accused Chad's government of using the situation for political ends. He said the children were from a region on the border between Chad and Sudan and "we are unable to tell which country they are from".
Idriss Deby, the Chadian president, has called the operation "pure and simple abduction" and demanded tough penalties for those responsible. He suggested the children could have ended up being sold to a paedophile ring or used to supply human organs.
"These people ... treat us like animals. So this is the image of the saviour Europe, which gives lessons to our countries. This is the image of Europe which helps Africans," he was quoted as saying on Chad's presidency website.
French diplomats said they had warned Zoe's Ark for months against the project, but Christophe Letien, a spokesman for the charity, insisted its intentions were humanitarian.
"The team is made up of firemen, doctors and journalists," he said at a news conference. "It's unimaginable that doubts are being cast on these people of good faith, who volunteered to save children from Darfur."
In France, police searched the charity's offices as well as the apartment of its founder as part of an inquiry into whether the group broke adoption laws. The group had initially promised some families that they could adopt - not merely host - children from Darfur, French officials have said.
The arrests come as a predominantly French EU force is preparing to deploy in eastern Chad, one of Africa's most violent regions, to protect refugees on the border with Darfur.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, called Mr Deby this weekend to discuss the case. France has led the push for the peacekeepers, and the uproar over the charity's actions risks complicating efforts to ensure a smooth start for the force, which Chad initially had resisted.
Chad is said to have assured France that the row will not affect the deployment. "Because this affair has nothing to do with the deployment of the multidimensional force, there are no possible consequences," France's minister for human rights, Rama Yade, told Europe-1 radio. "And Mr Deby assured us of that."
Darfur refugee camp in Chad. 
Nine French nationals, that were arrested after they were caught trying to airlift over a hundred children from the country, will face charges of kidnapping, officials in Chad say. Seven Spanish nationals, who were the crew of the plane, will face charges of being complicit. Two Chadians were also charged.

The French, six of whom are members of a charity by the name of "Zoe's Ark," say that they were trying to rescue the children from the humanitarian crisis that is resulting from the Darfur conflict. The other three are journalists, there to cover the "rescue."

The prosecutor in Abéché, Ahmat Daoud, said: "For the nine French people it is a matter of kidnapping of minors...as well as extortion." They face 20 years in prison if convicted.

"Zoe's Ark" describes the children as orphans and says that they would have a better life in Europe. "The team is made up of firemen, doctors and journalists," said spokesperson, Christophe Letien, at a news conference. "It's unimaginable that doubts are being cast on these people of good faith, who volunteered to save children from Darfur." However, French news agency CAPA published an interview in which a "Zoe's Ark" member said they could not be completely sure the children were orphans in need of help.

According to Annette Rehrl, spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, few of the children appear to actually be orphans. "They keep saying that they want to return to their parents. Most of them are between three and six years old. It’s very difficult to ask three-year-olds their names and where they come from. Also, some children have already changed their names and stories," Rehrl said.

French officials say that they warned the group against this operation for months. "Zoe's Ark" offices in France were searched to see if the group broke French adoption law by promising families that they could adopt and not just host the children.

The President of Chad, Idriss Déby, says that it is a case of "kidnap, pure and simple." He further suggested that "Zoe's Ark" may have sought to supply the children to pedophile rings or use them as donors for organ transplant.

The European Union is about to deploy a peacekeeping force, which includes French soldiers, along the border between Chad and Sudan. Déby has assured his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, he will not attempt to block the EU troops.