As the Elevation 2001 tour gets underway in the US, the band have invited fans to maintain pressure on US politicians to cancel third world debt. Bono has called on both George Bush and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill to finish the job of third world debt cancellation. 'During the three months of the U2 tour over a million children will die from third world debt and 100,000 people will be infected with HIV/AIDS in Africa.' said Bono. 'Deeper debt cancellation could stop this madness. 'We're calling on George Bush and Paul O'Neill to take leadership on this issue and direct the IMF and the World Bank to cancel the debts which kill. The people of Miami, Atlanta, Houston and wherever we go can help us deliver this message to the Bush administration.' For the duration of the Elevation 2001 Tour the band have invited campaigners from Drop The Debt to bring a stall to the shows, distribute literature, answer questions of fans and encourage further political lobbying. U2's singer spent much of last year lobbying politicians in rich nations for an end to the debt crisis and said he wants to thank those who supported the cause - but also make it clear there is much more to do. Sub-Saharan Africa, the world's poorest region, still pays $250 million a week in debt repayments. So far the international debt campaign, spearheaded by The Pope, Bono and Muhammad Ali, with a petition signed by over 24 million people, has persuaded the world's richest countries to reduce the debt payments of some of the poorest countries by a quarter. Clear progress is evident, but these countries will still spend more repaying debts than on healthcare. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are international public sector banks which have not followed the lead of countries like the US, and are still collecting debt money which should be spent instead on healthcare and fighting HIV/AIDS. Want to learn more about the global campaign to cancel the unpayable debts of the world's poorest countries ? Got time to e-mail the US President or Treasury Secretary telling them to DROP THE IMF AND WORLD BANK DEBT ! Email addresses: George Bush: president@whitehouse.govPaul O'Neill: OPCmail@do.treas.govAnd CC to pmartin@fin.gc.ca; poststelle@bmf.bund.de; segreteriaportavoce@governo.it; info@mof.go.jp; info@hm-treasury.gov.uk; klissakers@imf.org; yyoshimura@imf.org; besdar@imf.org; rfaini@imf.org; tbernes@imf.org; spickford@imf.org; jmilleron@imf.org Find out more at DroptheDebt.org