103 kidnapped Chadian kids go home

N'DJAMENA, Chad, March 8 (UPI) -- More than 100 Chadian children caught up in a French child-smuggling operation will soon be reunited with their families, officials said.

Six French aid workers who tried to pass off the children as orphans from the Sudanese province of Darfur, were convicted of trying to abduct 103 children, the BBC reported.

UNICEF, the United Nations children's aid agency, said the orphans' return home has been delayed until authorities locate their guardians, the British network reported. The French charity involved, Zoe's Ark, had left very little paperwork about the children's identities.

"Out of the 103 children, we were able to locate those who were in charge of the children for 97 of them," said Jean-Francois Basse, a spokesman for UNICEF in Chad.

Chadian President Idriss Deby has said he will consider pardoning the aid workers on condition the children's families receive compensation.