Unfazed by US pressure, Durban meeting gets down to business
Regional-Israel, Politics, 9/1/2001

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday urged delegates to an acrimonious global conference against racism to set aside their differences, saying the meeting could not afford to fail.

"If we leave without agreement we shall give comfort to the worst elements in every society," he told the opening session of the eight-day World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

"Let us not fail that test," he said.

Annan sought to sound a conciliatory note on the two most contentious issues: how to deal with, conflict in the Middle East and how to address the historic ill of slavery.

Arab states have been insisting that the conference text contain a specific reference to racist treatment by Israel of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

The United States threatened to boycott the event because of what it termed as "offensive" language against Israel in the conference's draft declarations.

Washington sent a delegation led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Southwick with instructions to seek changes in the language on Israel.

It said it would decide on whether to take part, and at what level, depending on the outcome of negotiations.

Describing the Holocaust as "the ultimate abomination", Annan said Israel could not use the tragedy as an excuse to examine its own behaviour.

"We cannot expect Palestinians to accept this (the Holocaust) as a reason for the wrongs done to them displacement, occupation, blocka, and now extra-judicial killings. There sufferings should not be ignored, whatever label one uses to describe them," he said.

But Annan said the conference was not the place for mutual recriminations and that its aim was to look to the future.

He sent the same message on slavery, for which some African states want an explicit apology and possibly financial reparations from former slave-trading nations.

"Our aim must be to banish from this new century the hatred and prejudice that have disfigured previous centuries," he said.

The emphasis of the conference was on practical measures to combat racism and discrimination against ethnic minorities from which few countries were immune. "We must not leave this city without agreeing on practical measures which all states should take to fill that pledge," he said.

European countries and the United States, the main players in the traffic of slaves from Africa to north and south America for some 400 years up to the 19th century, reject any talk of reparations and are wary of any wording in the conference texts that could leave them open to legal action.

On the fringe of the conference, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa held a flurry of meetings with Arab and European delegates to mobilize support for Arab rights.

Moussa, who met on Thursday night with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, held talks with the foreign ministers of Morocco, Syria and Muaritania.

He would convene with Arab foreign ministers attending the Durban meeting today to discuss means of coordinating efforts to guarantee that the Durban Declaration would "support legitimate Arab rights and denounce racist policies of Israel.

The declaration is expected to be announced at the end of the conference next Friday.

Moussa yesterday met the Foreign Minister of Belguim, whose country is holding the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union.

The meeting, Moussa told reporters, focused on ongoing European diplomatic efforts to contain the deteriorating situation in the occupied territories.

"Arab countries believe that the UN anti-racism conference should avoid protecting racist practices of any country," Moussa said, referring to Israel's brutal practices against the Palestinian civilians.

Moussa also met Gamal el-Durra, father of the 12-year-old Mohammed el-Durra, who was brutally murdered by Israeli occupation soldiers at the start of the Palestinian uprising.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will urge Israelis and Palestinians to build a durable ceasefire and resume a peace dialogue during his visit to the Middle East next week.

"He is going with two aims: to promote a consolidation of the ceasefire and to encourage a renewal of dialogue between the two sides," Solana spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.

Previous Stories:
  Anti-racism conference probes condemning Israel's separation policies in occupied lands   (8/29/2001)
  OIC Condemns Assassination of FPLP Leader   (8/28/2001)
  Arab participation in Durban conference   (8/28/2001)

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