DURBAN--South African President
Thabo Mbeki returned to the South African east
coast city of Durban in a fresh bid Thursday
to get Middle Eastern and European governments
to accept a new South African-drafted text aimed
at saving the UN World Conference against Racism
(WCAR) from failure, officials said..
European
and UN officials said that the EU and Middle East governments
were still weighing the draft. The United States and
Israel left the conference on Monday because of the
controversial references, and the EU on Tuesday set
a 24-hour deadline, warning that the 15 nations in
the world's biggest trading bloc were also considering
withdrawing.
But on Thursday,
Belgian Justice Minister Marc Verwilghen said
EU officials were reviewing the
document and had no plans to leave the conference. "We
are here to stay and have the discussions here
in Durban," Verwilghen said.
Mbeki held a late
meeting on Wednesday night with Louis Michel,
the Belgian foreign minister leading
the EU group at the conference said an EU spokesman.
Koen Vervaeke, a South African spokesman said, "South
Africa understands that there are differences and
that is why President Mbeki returned. It could
make a difference." Mbeki also held talks
with other key participants.
The compromise
text now under consideration (see page 2) deleted
language in earlier drafts that
branded Israel as a racist state, denounced anti-Semitism
and said the Holocaust "must never be forgotten.''
The revised text obtained by Conference News Daily
is replete with the language of compromise that
was sought by the EU. Thus paragraph 4 states: "We
recognize with deep concern the increase in anti-Semitism
and Islamophobia in various parts of the world
..." In another section it adds: "We
are concerned about the plight of the Palestinian
people under foreign occupation."
The proposal of Thursday's revised text marked
the second time South Africa intervened this week
to try to prevent more walkouts by nations, which
diplomats say would have proven deeply embarrassing
for the UN, as would the failure to agree on a
text. The South Africans were also negotiating
hard on the second major controversy of the conference
-- African demands for an apology and reparations
for the legacy of slavery.
Arab leaders said
a declaration that did not criticize Israel would
be meaningless. In an indication of
how difficult the talks have been, Palestinian
Foreign Minister Faruk Al Qdomi, said in an interview
with this newspaper: "We tried to find a compromise,
but we rejected it. It doesn't even mention Israel.
All they want to do is please the Americans." Khader
Shkirat, another member of the Palestinian delegation
said he believed European governments, working
with Washington, "are hiding behind the Palestinian
issue" to duck other problems such as slavery
reparations.
When Nasser Al
Kidway, the head of the Palestinian delegation
to the United Nations, was asked whether
there had been any progress on Thursday, he said: "No."
On the controversy over slavery African states
are demanding a full apology and reparations for
the trafficking in humans, but European states
and the United States have resisted an outright
apology out of fear that they could face a wave
of lawsuits.
Delegates involved in the slavery talks said there
had been progress but a final deal was still some
way off.
A UN spokeswoman
said the negotiations could extend beyond Friday
evening's formal closure of the conference
into Saturday morning. She described such a procedure
as normal at UN conferences in such circumstances
and said it would mean "stopping the clock" to
reach completion.
But Ali Khorram,
the chairman of the WACAR drafting committee,
was more optimistic: "I don't see
any need to postpone the conference. I hope sometime
tomorrow we can get some conclusion."
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