Annan for common ground on Durban meet

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

UNITED NATIONS, JULY 31. Delegates to the World Conference on Racism to be held between August 31 and September 7 in Durban, South Africa, have been told that they would have to find common ground on such issues as Zionism and slavery reparations if the meeting is to make any headway at all.

``We need to acknowledge the tragedies of the past, but not become captive to them... If this conference is to succeed, there is an acute need for common ground. The conference must help heal old wounds without re-opening them'', the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, has said.

In a speech to the National Urban League Conference in Washington on Monday, Mr. Annan argued that preparations for the gathering had opened up deep fissures. ``The months leading up to the conference have opened up deep fissures on a number of sensitive issues such as the legacy of slavery and colonialism and the situation in the Middle East'', Mr. Annan remarked.

Mr. Annan's remarks seemed to go with the Bush administration's stance that singling out Zionism and slavery reparations will be non-starters; and there is the plain warning that the U.S. may decide to sit out the meeting in South Africa. But human rights activists are making the point that by sitting on the sidelines, the Bush administration would not be able to influence the debate.

The Secretary General's remarks came on a day when in Geneva the final Preparatory Meeting for the conference got under way with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Mary Robinson, also sending a similar message to the delegates. ``The best preparation we can make for Durban at this stage is to identify the areas of common ground quickly, to find clear language and express them. Where real differences arise, I ask for flexibility and a sense of realism'', Ms. Robinson said.

One of the things that Ms. Robinson sought to do was to warn delegates from West Asia against pressing the demand for equating Zionism with racism which has found its way into the draft document. ``As delegates are well aware, the United Nations has already dealt with this issue at great length. The Resolution stating that Zionism is a form of racism was repealed a decade ago. I believe that it is inappropriate to reopen this issue in any form here and that anyone who seeks to do so is putting the success of the Durban Conference at risk'', Ms. Robinson noted. Ms. Robinson is said to have departed from the text of the prepared speech - distributed here - to say that she had great sympathy for the Palestinians.

``I am acutely aware of the suffering of the Palestinian people and dismayed at the continuing toll of deaths and injuries on a daily basis'', she said.

The Bush administration has made it known that in spite of all the heat coming its way in not attending the Durban Conference, the U.S. will stay away if there is the insistence on the particular language with Zionism and the African demand that countries that prospered from slavery should not only apologise but also pay compensation.

Last week in Geneva as negotiators were looking at ways to enforce the global ban on biological weapons, the U.S. stunned the international community by saying that it will not be a party to the germ warfare talks. The impression now is that both Mr. Annan and Ms. Robinson are trying to ensure that the Durban meeting does not meet the same fate.

The view is that if the Zionism issue does not emerge at the Geneva session, it was unlikely to surface at Durban as a formal vote would be required to make it to the final document.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Next     : S. Africa to seek consensus on agenda