71.   French President Jacques Chirac, who toured the region last week, championed Arab rights and called for a Palestinian state.

72.   Government officials toured the region Sunday, meeting with homeowners and businessmen to total up the damage and help prepare compensation claims.

73.   He last toured the region in July, just before a tour by US Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

74.   He had earlier toured the region in March.

75.   He will also tour Japanese regions, including Toyama in central Japan, as well as Miyazaki and Kagoshima, both on Kyushu island.

76.   He will tour the region before establishing his headquarters in Nairobi.

77.   In addition to Christopher, the foreign ministers of France, Italy and Russia were all touring the region to press for a rapid ceasefire in Lebanon.

78.   Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called on Japan to contribute to the Middle East peace process as he met Friday with a Japanese fact-finding mission touring the region.

79.   A European delegation which recently toured the region failed to push the peace process forward but it did provide some encouragement to the PLO and Syria.

80.   Baril who was touring the region in advance of the mission said he would go to Kinshasa over the weekend for hold talks with the authorities there.