U.S. walkout not unexpected

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 4. The decision of the United States to walk out from the world conference against racism in Durban may have brought criticism from expected quarters but the move was well on the cards.

The Bush administration had made no bones of the fact that the U.S. will not be a party to any hate language, especially if directed against Israel. More generally, when it comes to conferences and treaties, this Republican administration has given the definite impression that it will not lose much sleep over what others say, rather ``national interests'' will be the deciding factor. The decision to walk out of the Durban meeting was made by the Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, who in the first place sent a low-level team of officials led by a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Organisations. But for all practical purposes, the American delegation was headed in sessions by a charge d'affairs in the local Consulate. Denouncing the ``hateful language'', the Secretary of State issued a statement which said, ``Today I have instructed our representatives at the world conference against racism to return home. I have taken this decision with regret because of the importance of the international fight against racism and the contribution that this conference could have made to it''. The official decision to pull out may have been made by Gen. Powell, but it was not before the White House too concurred with the move. Media reports say that the President, Mr. George W Bush had been in touch with his key foreign policy advisors before making the decision.

The view in some quarters here is that the Durban conference fell into the hands of extremist Arab States who were keen on denouncing Israel in language that was unacceptable to the U.S. Now that the U.S. and Israel have walked out, the feeling here is that many others, particularly from Europe, will follow suit if the final statement is not toned down. In the run up to the Durban meeting and in the final negotiating sessions at Geneva, the Bush administration had said a compromise would have to be worked out on attempts to equate Zionism with racism and the issue of slavery and reparations as demanded by some in Africa.

The Bush administration played it politically correct when it chose to have the Democratic lawmaker, Mr.Tom Lantos of California as one of the leading members of the American delegation. Mr. Lantos is a Holocaust survivor and a ranking member in the House International Relations Committee. While the Congressional Black Caucus had been critical of the attitude of the Bush administration to this conference, Mr. Lantos argued that a conference which should have been about the horrible practice of discrimination around the world had been ``hijacked by extremist elements'' to serve its own purposes. ``The conference will stand self-condemned,'' the law maker said.

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Section  : International
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