ABIDJAN, March 28 (Reuters) - A group of 34 Ivorian children who dreamed of playing soccer for Europe's top clubs were reunited with their families on Tuesday after being duped by people traffickers who held them in neighbouring Mali.

Malian authorities discovered the boys three weeks ago in a villa in the southeastern town of Sikasso, where they had spent more than two months waiting for papers from traffickers who charged them or their families up to 300,000 CFA francs ($600) each to get to Europe.

"I've received confirmation today from the Ministry of the Family and Social Affairs that all the children have been returned to their families," said Ramaric N'Guessan, in charge of operations at the International Organization for Migration (OIM).

The children had returned to the Ivorian capital on Monday: some were immediately reunited with their parents while others had to wait to be collected. A further 12 children who were smuggled to Mali have disappeared, OIM officials said.

Government and humanitarian agencies have tried in recent years to curb trafficking of children in West Africa, where traffickers have exploited poor families, sometimes with the promise of a one-off cash payment or the prospect of regular wages for child labourers.

Once in Mali, the children continued to train and played some soccer matches with local clubs, until they were detained by Malian authorities.

"We were victims of a fraud because they told us we were going to find clubs in Europe," Alfred Ouattara, captain of the children's team, told Reuters at the weekend in the border town of Pogo, before returning to Abidjan.

Malian authorities have charged two Ivorians and a man from Niger with people smuggling and fraud.

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