Reuters: Aid workers kidnapped in Somalia 03 January

Chadian president pardoned six French charity workers on Monday, after the members of Zoe's Ark had been sentenced in December to eight years of hard labour for attempting to fly 103 African children to France. The official decrees, published in Chad's capital N'djamena, have now to be transmitted to French authorities who could free the aid workers within the next 24 hours.

Six charity workers convicted in Chad of trying to kidnap children and fly them to France are awaiting their sentence. The six members of the aid group Zoe's Ark were ordered to serve eight years of hard labour by a Chadian court, but now that they have been extradited to France, their sentence is being recast. Only five of the six defendants were in court on Monday, including Zoe's Ark founder Eric Breteau, who has been on hunger strike since his return from Chad. The group insists it was pursuing a humanitarian goal: to rescue children from the crisis in Darfur.

After more than two hours of talks with the leader of Myanmar's secretive military junta, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he won to a pledge that all foreign disaster experts would finally be allowed into the country, three weeks after the cyclone that has left at least 133,000 people dead or missing.

Sixteen Europeans are accused of participating in the alleged kidnap of 103 children in eastern Chad -- including six members of an aid group which claims it intended to fly orphans from the war-torn Darfur region to safety in France. Nine French nationals, including six aid workers of Zoe's Ark and three journalists, were charged late Monday with "kidnapping minors" and "fraud". Seven Spanish aircraft crew and two Chadian nationals were charged with complicity.

Women make up the bulk of the new arrivals in Somalia's camps for displaced people. They come alone or with their children, as most of their husbands have either stayed behind or have been killed. Lacking the protection of their clan, they are the most vulnerable to violence. Camp residents report that several rapes take place every night. An AFPTV report from the Galkayo settlement.

After a gruelling journey they arrive at the Forward Operating Base. Word has spread of their impending arrival, and the queue waiting for treatment has already begun to form. With the help of local interpreters the medical team sees patients of all ages

Seven Americans were among the 11 people killed when a small plane crashed in Guatemala Sunday. The volunteer humanitarian workers are being mourned and remembered for helping others. (Aug. 26)

Myanmar's military rulers have rejected international pressure to allow foreign aid workers into their isolated nation where disease and starvation are stalking cyclone survivors.

Their departure from Chad followed a highly publicised legal case and diplomatic imbroglio which embarrassed France, a key backer of Chadian President Idriss Deby. French troops and planes stationed in Chad have given logistical and intelligence support to Deby's army fighting rebels in the east. France is also the main contributor of troops to a European Union peace force preparing to deploy in eastern Chad to protect thousands of Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadian civilians.