African leaders divide over slavery

Annan insists Zionism is not racism

African leaders at the international conference on racism in the South African city of Durban have agreed that the West must apologise for slavery and colonialism, but are still divided over the issue of reparations.

And UN Secretary General Kofi Annan reiterated that the equation of Zionism (support for the existence of a Jewish state) with racism "is dead" and warned that that issue and demands for slavery reparations threatened the conference's outcome.

Apology is intrinsic in the healing process... apology closes the door to bitterness and anger

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo

"The conference has given the world an opportunity to face the issue of racism squarely. But two issues threaten consensus - the Middle East and slavery," Annan said at a news conference before leaving Durban.

One of the speakers at the conference, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, has come out against reparations.

Mr Obasanjo told the delegates an apology would recognise the wrong that was committed against Africans and constitute a promise that such an atrocity would never happen again.

With an apology, "the issue of reparations ceases to be a rational option", he said during his formal address to the conference on Saturday morning.

Compensation 'necessary'

But the President of Togo, Gnassingbe Eyadema, said reparations were necessary to compensate for the horrors of the slave trade and colonialism.

Africans and people of African descent have noted that compensation is now being paid to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their descendents.

They are demanding the same kind of reparations for the descendents of those who were enslaved because they were black.

Landless blacks in SA say racism still persists in their country

Reparations could come in the form of a cancellation of African debt and greater development aid, some African delegates hope.

Cuban President Fidel Castro has supported the call for reparations, saying that countries that made money through human trafficking could afford to pay.

"This is an unavoidable moral duty," Mr Castro said.

The Cuban leader criticised the US for lowering the level of its delegation at the conference because of the discussion of what he called Israeli genocide against Palestinians.

"(Nobody) has the right to set preconditions to the conference or urge it to avoid the discussion...(of) the way we decide to rate the dreadful genocide perpetrated, at this very moment, against our Palestinian brothers," Mr Castro said.

Formulating a resolution

After a day of opening speeches, the delegates have set out on the task of reaching a consensus and an action plan.

Committees were working behind the scenes on the wording of a final resolution to be adopted at the end of the summit.

There are racist policies and practices by Israel and they have to be addressed (just) as Israel wants us to address the problem of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa

The Arab League convened on Saturday to consolidate its position and prepare a final declaration.

The league's secretary-general, Amr Moussa, said Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and the recognition of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism were linked.

"There are racist policies and practices by Israel and they have to be addressed (just) as Israel wants us to address the problem of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism and so on, so its a package."

On Friday, delegates from nearly 200 countries and international organisations heard Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat accuse Israel of racism.

He accused Israel of adopting racist policies towards the Palestinian people, and of ethnic cleansing.

He asked the conference to "stand by us, stand by justice, by international legitimacy which is now being trodden upon by the Israeli Government".

Slavery claims

A number of European delegations have said they are ready to see strong language adopted on the slavery front, but none that would open them up to major claims from countries that suffered in the past.

The delegates have a week in which to reach a consensus that will satisfy both the governments involved and the many interest groups who fear their grievances will not receive proper attention because of the inevitable political horse-trading.

Some 6,000 delegates from more than 130 countries have gathered at the conference.

But the summit opened with just low-level representation from the US, Canada and Israel in protest at efforts by Arab and Islamic states to condemn Israel for its treatment of the Palestinians.