FACTBOX-Children in Chad case live in violent region

Oct 30 (Reuters) - Chad brought abduction and fraud charges on Tuesday against nine French and seven Spanish nationals accused of illegally trying to fly 103 African children to Europe.

The French, members of a group called Zoe's Ark which said it wanted to place orphans from Sudan's war-torn Darfur with European families, denied wrongdoing. But United Nations and French officials said it appeared many of the children, aged three to 10 years old, were from Chad and many were not orphans.

Some of the children told journalists their parents were alive and they were lured from their villages on the Chad-Sudan border with offers of sweets and biscuits. T

Seven Spanish crew members of the plane chartered for the operation were charged as accessories, along with two Chadians.

The case comes at a sensitive time for France, the former colonial power which has soldiers stationed in Chad.

French troops will provide the backbone of a European Union peacekeeping force that is due to start deploying in the next few weeks in Chad's violent east bordering with Darfur.

Here are some facts about the violence in eastern Chad.



CONFLICT:

* -- Over the last two years, eastern Chad has been swept by cross-border raids by Arab militias from Darfur, clashes between Arab and non-Arab communities and guerrilla attacks by Chadian rebels fighting to topple President Idriss Deby.

* -- U.N. agencies caring for 400,000 Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians in eastern Chad have been clamouring for several years for international protection.



PEACE MOVES:

* -- The European Union is preparing to deploy 3,000 peacekeeping troops to eastern Chad and northeast Central African Republic to help protect civilians and aid workers there from violence spilling over from the 4-year-old conflict in neighbouring Darfur.

* -- The EU troops, due to start arriving in Chad in mid-November, are to complement a much bigger U.N./African Union peacekeeping operation planned for Darfur.

* -- Roughly half of the EU force is expected to consist of French troops, raising questions whether the EU deployment will be seen as neutral, especially by the armed groups which have fought Deby's rule. At least one rebel group has said it could attack the EU force if it interferes with its operations.

* -- Four main Chadian rebel groups signed a peace agreement last week in Libya with Deby's government. The deal foresees an immediate ceasefire, release of prisoners and the creation of a committee to integrate rebel figures into government structures.

* -- Nevertheless, the Chadian government has extended a state of emergency in the east following recent ethnic clashes.