The French Foreign Ministry and others have cast doubt on the claims by the group that the children are Darfur orphans.
"According to initial information . . . there seem to be many Chadian children and even many who are not orphans," French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani told reporters in Paris yesterday.
If convicted, the French suspects, who were charged late Monday, face up to 20 years of hard labor in a Chadian prison, said Chad's interior minister, Ahmat Bachir.
Three French journalists traveling with the group and seven Spanish citizens who worked for the Barcelona-based charter airline hired to fly the children out were also detained, as was a pilot from Belgium.
The journalists and the Spaniards were charged with complicity, Justice Minister Pahimi Padacket Albert said.
Far more is at stake than the fates of the suspects.
More than 300,000 Darfur refugees are living in camps along the Sudanese border after fleeing four years of conflict that has killed more than 200,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes.
Aid groups operate in Chad with permission from the government of President Idriss Déby, who has expressed outrage at the group's activities and may crack down on humanitarian efforts as a result.
A statement posted on the government's website said Déby was "shocked by the acts of Zoe's Ark, which is trafficking children under cover of humanitarian assistance."
The allegations are a major embarrassment for France, which was Chad's colonial power, until 1960 and has deep ties to the volatile region.
President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday he told Deby by telephone that his government "condemns these activities."
The Zoe's Ark workers "were wrong to do what they did," Sarkozy said during a visit to Corsica. "Why were these children picked up and to what end? That's what we must know now."
French Prime Minister François Fillon condemned the group's activities and expressed hope they wouldn't discredit other non-governmental organizations doing "remarkable work" in Chad and Darfur, "and which now are suffering suspicion."
