Seven Europeans released by Chadian authorities left the central African country today on board a plane along with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a witness said.
The seven were among 16 French and Spanish nationals detained after they tried to fly 103 African children to Europe.
The other nine remain in custody facing charges relating to child abduction and fraud.
Nine French and seven Spanish nationals were arrested in the eastern town of Abeche, near the border with Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, just over a week ago as they tried to fly the children, aged between one and 10 years, to Europe.
Six of the French are members of a group called Zoe's Ark, which has said that it intended to place orphans from Darfur with European families for foster care and that it had the right to do so under international law. The three others are journalists.
Mr Sarkozy has personally appealed to Deby to free the French journalists and urged a mutually satisfactory solution "so that no one loses face". His spokesman said the French president's meeting with Mr Deby would focus on consular protection of the French nationals and on judicial cooperation between France and Chad.
UN and Chadian officials say most of the infants had come from families with at least one parent living on the violent Chad-Sudan border, contradicting the "war orphans" description of the children given by Zoe's Ark.
The affair is an embarrassment for former colonial ruler France, which is an ally of Chad and has troops and aircraft stationed in the landlocked country.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon asked Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Defence Minister Herve Morin on Saturday to launch investigations into the case.