French President Nicolas Sarkozy set off for Chad on Sunday for talks with Chadian President Idriss Deby over the fate of the detained Europeans charged with trying to kidnap 103 purported Darfuri orphans, his office announced in Paris.

According to the press statement, the discussion between the two leaders in the Chadian capital N'Djamena will focus on "consular protection of (French) citizens and judicial cooperation between Chad and France."

However, France-Info radio reported that Sarkozy only agreed to travel to N'Djamena after having been assured of the release of three French journalists and four Spanish stewardesses jailed in the affair.

France-Info reported that the seven will likely be freed just before Sarkozy arrives in N'Djamena in early afternoon.

Six members of the French aid group L'Arche de Zoe (Zoe's Ark) were charged with kidnapping minors and fraud after they were arrested on October 25 while trying to fly 103 children from eastern Chad to France.

The three journalists accompanying the aid workers and a Spanish flight crew of seven, who manned the aircraft that was to transport the children, were charged with complicity in the affair.

The charges in Chad carry maximum sentences of five to 20 years in prison.