Jailed French workers leave Chad

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.

The members of Zoe's Ark charity who had all be given eight years hard labour were transported to an airstrip in a prison van.

Zoe's Ark spokesman Christophe Letien said he was reserving his reaction until the aid workers actually land back in France.

They were held in October after Chad authorities stopped the aid group's convoy with the children, whom it was planning to fly to France.

The six insisted they were driven by compassion to help orphans in Darfur, which borders Chad.

Later investigations showed most of the children had at least one parent or close adult relative.

The case has embarrassed France and sparked protests in Chad, a former French colony.

Aid workers say their already difficult job along Darfur's border has been complicated by the suspicion some now have toward all foreigners professing to offer help. Days after the Zoe's Ark workers were arrested, the Republic of Congo announced it was suspending all international adoptions because of the events in Chad.

France's role in the region has already come under scrutiny in recent months as the European Union plans to send a military mission to Chad to protect refugees fleeing violence in neighbouring Sudan.