US withdrawal from Durban conf. 'incomprehensible'
Egypt-Regional, Politics, 9/6/2001

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher considered the US withdrawal from the United Nations Anti-racism conference as an insult to the UN and participating delegations.

"The United States withdrawal from the conference is considered a great insult to the United Nations and also to those attending the meetings and to South Africa, the conference host," Maher told reporters in Cairo after returning home from the UN anti-racism gathering in Durban, South Africa.

While Maher affirmed Cairo's friendship with the United States, he branded the US move "unacceptable and incomprehensible."

"Is it possible to have an international conference under the banner of the United Nations...and ask it in the meantime not to see, hear or speak at the request of the United States and Israel?" he wondered.

The conference, currently seeking a compromise to break the impasse, has set up a special drafting group chaired by South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to work on new wording for a draft resolution on the Middle East.

Meanwhile, France warned yesterday that the European Union could quit the conference in a row over the Middle East, but a bloc spokesman said there were no plans at this stage to leave.

A French government spokesman issued the warning in Paris. "If the link between Zionism and racist is maintained, the issue of our departure ? along with the Europeans ? will come up immediately," French Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jean-Jack Queyranne quoted Prime Minister Lionel Jospin as telling a cabinet meeting.

However, a spokesman for Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said that nobody was calling yet for the bloc to withdraw.

"There is no question of pulling out at this stage. No member state has called for it," spokesman Koen Vervaeke told Reuters when asked to comment on Queyranne's remarks.

"We are not just going to go on talking about this (the Middle East) and if no accord is possible then there can be no accord on the overall conference documents because everything must be agreed," the spokesman said.

The eight-day World Conference Against Racism is due to end tomorrow.

An EU withdrawal, which could prompt other developed nations to quit, would be a death blow to a conference intended to be a landmark in the international fight against racism.

But South Africa, proud of its victory over white minority rule seven years ago, has called for tolerance and said it is seeking compromise wording acceptable to all.

The US pullout on Monday triggered a storm of criticism, including harsh words from South Africa and African-American activists who accused Washington of seizing on the Middle East row to avoid uncomfortable conference themes such as colonial-era slavery.

South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma called the US move "unhelpful".

He defended the right of Arab states to raise the Palestinian question.

"They (the US) cannot say 'every issue in the world you can touch but this issue'."

"The manner in which it was done leaves you feeling uncomfortable. The world has changed ? they can (no longer) just act as if they were masters," he told journalists, an Egyptian report said.

Previous Stories:
  Maher slams US withdrawal from WCAR   (9/5/2001)
  US walkout meaningless   (9/4/2001)
  Egypt keen to rescue Mideast peace process   (9/3/2001)

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