France to wipe away
Central American foreign debt
After visiting Guatemalan communities hard hit by Hurricane Mitch, French President Jacques Chirac announced last month that his government would forgive $134 million owed by all Central American countries. Other European and North American countries have also announced debt relief and additional aid for the hurricane stricken territories.
Immediately following Hurricane Mitch, the most deadly hurricane on record, the French government announced that it was wiping away the debts of the two most affected nations - Honduras and Nicaragua.
Guatemala and El Salvador also suffered serious damage. In Costa
Rica the 1999 harvest was virtually destroyed. Chirac also vowed
to propose that a Central American reconstruction fund be established,
to be overseen by the World Bank.
"The international community should mobilise to reconstruct
all that has been destroyed," Chirac told a news conference
in Guatemala City after he visited three heavily damaged Guatemalan
communities.
Two weeks after 'Mitch' dumped heavy rains across the isthmus,
sweeping away entire villages and burying others in mud, foreign
aid continues to pour into the region, where officials estimate
more than 10,000 people died.
Chirac's trip included meetings with Indian rights activist and
Nobel peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu. He also travel to Honduras
to tour the devastation there.
Chirac's visit is the latest by a number of world leaders and
celebrities travelling to Central America to see the damage first
hand. US First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Honduras
for a previously scheduled trip to Central America, which discarded
its initial agenda to focus in large part on disaster relief efforts.
Tipper Gore, the wife of US Vice-President Al Gore, also toured
heavily damaged regions of Honduras and Nicaragua.
Honduras also called for debt forgiveness in the wake of Mitch
devastation.
The call was supported by Former US President George Bush who
accompanied Honduran President Carlos Flores on an inspection
tour to assess flood damage at the Choluteca river over the Chile
bridge. Hundreds of people lost their homes on the bank of the
river during heavy rainfalls which poured last week in downtown
Tegucigalpa. 
Heeding an international SOS, Bush visited the region to sensitize
the world of the extent of the disaster and to co-ordinate aid
and relief to a country hit hard by the deadliest Atlantic storm
in two centuries.
Bush was due to lend support to a massive international rescue
and reconstruction effort in Central America, where hundreds of
thousands were left homeless by floods and landslides due to the
former Hurricane Mitch.
Mitch killed an estimated 11,000 people throughout Central America
and left thousands more missing and feared dead. Officials say
it will take years for this impoverished region to get back on
its feet. Bush arrives as the rebuilding effort is turning the
corner in Honduras, where an estimated US$2 billion in damage
amounted to nearly two-thirds of the country's gross domestic
product for a year.
The presidents of Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala
are scheduled to meet in El Salvador to map out a joint strategy
for rebuilding from a disaster that one United Nations official
set regional development back 20 years.
The majority of homes in the city of one million remained without
running water for the ninth day on Sunday as crews continued work
on damaged water mains.
Relief and emergency workers had undertaken an intensive airlift
project involving dozens of helicopters donated by Mexico, the
United States and other countries. Rural villagers as well as
towns cut off by washed out roads and bridges were eventually
reunited after three weeks.
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