Wesley Kerr: Ministers say it is just a shift of emphasis

On Saturday the International Development Secretary, Clare Short, announced she would press the international community to consider special debt relief for Nicaragua and Honduras.

Her statement followed her apparent dismissal on Friday of calls for the West to write off the two countries' debts after Mitch left thousands of people dead and millions homeless.

The Conservative International Development spokesman, Gary Streeter, said this was a rapid, but welcome, reversal of policy.

"We have to see this as a change of policy," he said.

The next step

The development followed criticism of Ms Short's comments on Friday.

Mike Goodhand of the Red Cross: We are sending food as well as the means to cook it

On that occasion she said that while there was a case for debt relief for some poor countries, calls for immediate cancellation of all debts owed by Nicaragua and Honduras were "misleading" and "irrelevant" to the immediate relief effort.

In a statement issued on Saturday by Ms Short's department, she stressed the first priority, in which the UK was involved, was indeed immediate relief to save and sustain life after disasters like Hurricane Mitch.

The next step, she said, was to devise arrangements to help countries rebuild themselves.

Clare Short: First priority is immediate relief for disaster-hit nations

Both Nicaragua and Honduras - which pay about £1m a day in interest payments - would qualify in a few years for debt relief under a scheme for Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) as defined by the World Bank and IMF "if they stick to sound policies", she said.

"The question is how can we help on a shorter timescale?"

Ms Short said that she and Chancellor Gordon Brown were calling on the IMF and World Bank to look closely at the case for special treatment for countries afflicted by natural disasters which severely damage their economies - alongside existing work on post-conflict debt relief.

Nicaraguan Ambassador Nora Campos de Lankes: It will take more than 10 years to recover

The UK would be in touch with European and G7 colleagues, because it wants the international community to consider urgently what exceptional debt relief measures might be appropriate in the short term for both groups of countries.

Her department said the IMF and the World Bank were already considering accelerated debt relief eligibility and special interim measures for HIPC countries emerging from conflict, and Ms Short wanted similar consideration given to those suffering big natural disasters.

'No climbdown'

A spokesman for Ms Short's department denied there had been a "climbdown".

Some isolated areas in Honduras are only accessible by helicopter

"The secretary of state has quite consistently said in the first couple of days that there are people in Nicaragua and Honduras covered in mud, thousands of people dying, that the department's attention is to get the emergency relief in place.

"That system is now in place and they are looking slightly longer term. This is the next step."

Ms Short's call for special debt relief comes as British aid workers prepare for a relief flight carrying urgent supplies to Honduras, where a state of emergency has been declared.