DURBAN, South Africa (Reuters) - Negotiators at a U.N. race conference still face deadlock over the Middle East and slavery, although the European Union stepped back from a threat to withdraw from the meeting.``The European Union is waiting. No decision has been taken to withdraw,'' EU spokesman Koen Vervaeke told Reuters late on Wednesday.(Read photo caption)
Earlier, a French government spokesman said in Paris that the 15-state bloc could pull out within hours if Arab states persisted in demands that the meeting brand Israel a racist state.
The conference, which had been billed as marking a milestone in the international struggle against racism, is also battling to overcome sharp differences between African states and the former colonial powers over whether an apology should be made for centuries of slave-trading.
The EU had said it wanted a compromise struck by Wednesday night, although it insisted that this did not amount to an ultimatum.
A special drafting group made up of Belgium, which holds the EU presidency, Norway, Namibia and the Palestine Authority worked through the day to try and reach an accord under the chairmanship of South Africa.
``There was a lot of stalling,'' the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Nasser Alkidwa, told Reuters after the talks, which had taken proposals presented by South Africa as their starting point.
EU sources said the South African wording had removed all references to Israel as racist and had been acceptable to the Europeans. But the Palestinians had wanted to include language critical of Israel. The text was not released.
PALESTINIANS WANTED ADDITIONS
``The South African proposals are acceptable to the European Union. The problem is that the Palestinians want to add things to the document,'' one source said.
Diplomats said that South Africa, which was chosen as the venue for its successful overthrow of apartheid, would now make a further attempt to produce a draft on the Middle East acceptable to all sides.
The conference, which is due to end on Friday, has been tottering on the verge of collapse since the United States and Israel pulled out on Monday over attempts by Islamic states to brand Israel an apartheid state.European diplomats said African states had hardened their demands for compensation for the damage done by centuries of slave-trading, during which some 12 million Africans were shipped, often in chains, to the Americas. The trade was only abolished worldwide in the early 1800s.
``We're not just talking about the Middle East here, we need to see progress on all issues including those dealing with the past. Time is running out,'' said Joaquin Perez Villanueva, Spain's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva.
Africans are also demanding a formal apology for the human trafficking, but rich states are reluctant to go much beyond expressions of regret for fear of triggering litigation.
The European Union and other rich states have offered to boost aid to Africa, particularly through the South African-sponsored New African Initiative, a program designed to promote development.
But hardline African states are demanding reparations paid on the basis of how greatly a country suffered from slave-trading or colonialism.
PHOTO CAPTION:
American actor Danny Glover takes part in a candlelight vigil at the Worlld Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, Wednesday Sept. 5, 2001. Glover, among several hundred people, staged the vigil in opposition to attempts to change the wording of the final declaration document for the conference. (AP Photo/Obed Zilwa