France to seek repatriation of Chad aid workers

PARIS (Reuters) - France will ask for the repatriation of six French aid workers found guilty by a court in Chad of trying to kidnap 103 children, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani declined to comment on the verdict itself, which condemned the six to eight years of hard labor.

But she said that under the conditions of a judicial accord between the two countries, Paris would ask for the six members of the aid group Zoe's Ark to be brought back to France.

"France, after obtaining the agreement of the members of Zoe's Ark and examining the implementation of the judicial cooperation accord between France and Chad, in particular article 29, will ask the Chadian authorities for the transfer of the prisoners to France," she said in a statement.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau, writing by James Mackenzie)