Chad child 'kidnappings' may have already happened

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

Publicity surrounding the attempt by aid workers to fly out more than 100 children they claimed were orphans prompted other parents to come forward saying their families had been taken.

Authorities said more than 70 children aged between one and six were flown to France six weeks ago without their parents' knowledge.

A network of local human rights groups wrote to the public prosecutor's department with details about the children said to have been flown from Chad to a military airport outside Paris on September 17.

The public prosecutor's department said that it was not clear who took the children, but added it may not be Zoe's Ark, the French aid group that was stopped from taking other children out of Chad last week.

Six French Zoe's Ark workers have been charged with kidnapping for seeking to send 103 children to France. They face up to 20 years hard labour if convicted.

The affair has focused attention on the inability of many African governments to safeguard children and ensure that those claiming to want to help are not sex or labour traffickers.

Chad said that human rights groups gathered the information about the 74 children after several parents told them their children were missing.

The children "have effectively been kidnapped. They landed at this military airport to go to an unknown destination," a spokesman said.

"We do not know how many (other) children were transported in such conditions."