Chad 'mercy flight orphans' have parents

Most of the 103 African “orphans” a French charity tried to fly to Europe from Chad appear to have at least one living parent, it emerged today.

The findings strengthen the doubts of the French government over claims by the little-known Zoe’s Ark group that the children were being rescued from the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan

Aid agency workers who interviewed the children said the majority came from villages in the Chad-Sudan border region, but they could not tell immediately which country they were from.

“Ninety-one of the children referred to a family environment made up of at least one adult person whom they consider as a parent,” said a joint statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross, Unicef and UNHCR.

They said several days of talks with 21 girls and 81 boys aged between one and 10 “suggest that 85 of them come from villages in the border region between Chad and Sudan”

Zoe’s Ark was stopped last week from flying the children to foster parents in Europe. Some reports claim that many of the children were actually being offered for adoption.

Seventeen Europeans have been arrested by Chad, including six French citizens who were charged with kidnapping.

Although Zoe’s Ark claims they were trying to rescue the children, the incident has focused attention on the possibility African children were being taken abroad by sex or child labour gangs exploiting poor policing surrounding international adoptions.

A host of international aid groups have condemned the Zoe’s Ark campaign, including Save the Children and Oxfam, as an abuse of human rights.

According to its web site, Zoe’s Ark, founded in 2005 by volunteer firefighter Eric Breteau, announced in April it planned on “evacuating orphans from Darfur". The group launched an appeal for host families and funding.

Meanwhile the Central African Republic of Congo has suspended all international adoptions in the wake of the scandal.

Justice Minister Emmanuel Aime Yoka said the Chad came occurred only a few days after 17 children from the Republic of Congo were adopted by Spanish families.

He said the two events were not connected, but said the coincidence of timing led the government to re-examine its policies.