Six French aid workers jailed in Chad for trying to kidnap 103 children left for home today with hopes of having their sentences quashed there.

Chad insisted today that it would have the last word over the fates of six French aid workers sentenced to eight years of forced labour as France asked that they be sent home.

Dozens of children may already have been kidnapped from Chad and given to French families, investigators looking into a failed charity airlift said today.

Seven Europeans who were among 17 detained in Chad and accused of attempting to kidnap 103 African children were freed and left the country with French president Nicolas Sarkozy.