Anger as U.N. Race Summit Opens

J O H A N N E S B U R G, South Africa, Aug. 31, 2001 -- After weeks of acrimonious wrangling, a U.N. racism conference opened in South Africa today with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging delegates from 150 countries to set aside their differences.

"If we leave here without agreement we shall give comfort tothe worst elements in every society," he told the openingsession of the World Conference Against Racism, RacialDiscrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in the South African city of Durban.

More than a century after the banning of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the rancorous buildup to the eight-day conference has been seen as a sign that race continues to be a contentious issue.

Arab states have demanded the conference address what they believe is Israel's racist treatment of Palestinians, Jewish delegates have accused the conference of anti-Semitism, India has refused to include caste issues and Europe and the United States have refused to consider an apology for slavery.

The absence of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, arguably one of the world's most powerful black men, has cast a shadow over the conference, especially among African Americans delegates.

The United States and Canada have sent low-level delegations in a show of protest over what they believe was "offensive" language on Israel contained in the summit's draft declarations. The declaration has however dropped any equation between Zionism and racism.

Rainbow Nation

As nearly 6,000 delegates made their way to the summit, the venue for the historic conference was not lost on them.

Seven years after South Africa did away with apartheid, the "rainbow nation" has held two successful elections and has voted two black South Africans to power.

But in his inaugural speech, South African President Thabo Mbeki was pessimistic about the world's progress on racial issues. Quoting a blues song, Mbeki said, "If you're white you're alright; if you are brown, stick around; if you are black, oh brother! Get back, get back, get back."

A day after the death of his father, Govan Mbeki, a former leader of the African National Congress who was jailed for 23 years by the white-minority regime, Mbeki said his address was the best tribute he could pay his late father.

Earlier, Annan called for a minute's silence to honor the 91-year-old anti-apartheid leader.

Middle East Problems

The arrival of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Durban on Thursday put the spotlight on the Middle East crisis as Jewish and Arab protesters outside the conference venue faced off with angry exchanges.

Despite the furor created by Israel's recent occupation of a West Bank town, Israel did not boycott the conference, but sent a low-level delegation.

Addressing the Middle East crisis in his inaugural address, Annan said Israel could not use "the ultimate abomination" of theHolocaust as an excuse for its own track record.

"We cannot expect Palestinians to accept this [the Holocaust] as a reason why the wrongs done to them — displacement, occupation, blockage, and now extra-judicialkillings — should be ignored, whatever label one uses todescribe them," he said.

Outside the conference, thousands of angry demonstrators protested Israeli policies towards the Palestinians as well as U.S. support for Israel. Chanting, "Free, free Palestine," and "Israel is an apartheid state," protesters filed through the streets of Durban. There were no incidents of violence.

No Solutions, No Public Relations Exercise

The U.N. Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, who is chairing the conference, insisted the conference could not solve the Middle East crisis. But she also rejected the notion that it was just another public relations exercise.

"This is a conference about victims of racial discrimination, a conference to move us forward toward reconciliation," she said.

Even the centuries-old trans-Atlantic slave trade, one of the first human rights issues to be fought on a global scale, has not been short of controversy and acrimony.

Fearing exposure to expensive lawsuits, Europe and the United States have consistently refused to apologize for slavery, a refusal that has angered African Americans seeking reparations for the West's involvement in 400 years of slave trade.

"The case for reparations is one of repair," said Kalanji Olesegun, a spokesman for Blacks for Reparation in America. "Simply said, it is a repairing of people for the injustices for the injuries done to them over an extended period of time."

ABCNEWS' Jim Wooten in Johannesburg, South Africa contributed to this report.