The New Nation - Internet Edition

BBC News

The government of Chad has given permission for 103 children who were caught up in a trafficking scandal to be returned home, Unicef says.

Six French aid workers were convicted last year of trying to take the children to Europe, saying they thought they were orphans from Darfur.

The children will be returned to their families from an orphanage in Chad as soon as possible, Unicef says.

The aid workers have been returned to France to serve out their jail terms.

They said they had been tricked into thinking the children they were preparing to fly to France were Sudanese orphans from Darfur.

However, most of the children were found to be from Chad, which borders the war-torn western Sudanese region, and had parents who were still alive.