South Africa looked yesterday for a compromise that could save a UN conference on racism from failure after the US and Israel pulled out.
Both withdrew late Monday in protest at language in conference drafts that branded Israel as racist for its treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told the South African Broadcasting Corporation that a conference required "compromise" and that she was not surprised by the move.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a statement issued in Durban that: "I have instructed our representatives at the world conference to return home."
Powell assailed any attempt to single out "only one country in the world, Israel, for censure and abuse" and suggestions that apartheid existed in Israel.
But the singling out of Israel for condemnation is also unacceptable to the EU and even if the Europeans did not follow Washington in abandoning Durban there is no chance any conference declaration could be approved in its current form, diplomats said.
"There is really very little difference between our view and the United States when it comes to the wording on Israel," one European diplomat said.
Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, whose country holds the rotating presidency, told a news conference on Monday night the 15-state bloc had agreed to take part in the drafting of a "completely new text" on the Middle East.
The drafting session began late Monday and was due to run through the night, an EU spokesman said.
"But that does not mean that we are necessarily going to have anything approaching an agreed text on Tuesday," he added. "There are still four days to go before the conference ends."
The World Conference on Racism, which organizers hoped would be a landmark in the international struggle against racism, runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 7.
But from its outset it has been mired in rows over how to deal with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Over 700 people, most of them Palestinians, have died in violence that followed the collapse of the peace process 11 months ago.
"It is becoming clear that this focus on the Middle East is diverting attention away from a range of issues of importance to others at the Durban conference," said the Business Day newspaper in an editorial yesterday.
There is also no accord in sight on African demands that former slave states make an apology for some 400 years of human trafficking up to the early 19th century during which some 12 million people where shipped to the Americas.
South Africa, proud of its own transition from apartheid to a multi-racial society, said the US withdrawal from the meeting was "unfortunate and unnecessary."
"It will be unfortunate if a perception were to develop that the USA's withdrawal from the conference is merely a red herring demonstrating an unwillingness to confront the real issues posed by racism," Essop Pahad, South African minister of the presidency, said in a statement.
UN rights chief Mary Robinson said she regretted Washington's decision and warned that if the conference failed to come to an agreement it would give comfort to the worst elements of society.
The conference aims to agree on two documents -- one a declaration of principles and the other a detailed program of action that each state would undertake to carry out to combat racism.
The EU spokesman said the South Africans would take as their starting point in their search for a compromise over the Middle East a proposal put forward by Norway but which had previously been rejected by Islamic states.
"This conference should have worked on common ground to beat racism throughout the world. Instead it has been hijacked in the most disgraceful and outrageous way," said Lord Janner, vice-president of the World Jewish Congress.
Fundamentalist Islamic groups in Asia wasted no time in condemning Israel and the US for walking out of the conference
Ameerul Azeem, a spokesman for Pakistan's right-wing religious group, the Islamic Party, said: "It is shameful that America, which champions ... human rights, is ignoring the killings of innocent Palestinians.''
Another Pakistani group, the Movement for Shiite Muslim Law, accused the US of double standards and hypocrisy.
"The American lip-service to human-rights causes, democracy and justice is a sham," said Zulfikar Haider, the movement's information secretary.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from