US could boycott South Africa racism summit
February 13, 2008
Agence-France Press
Original Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hNdkrBh2WUwXRiZ-cN1xYlxBChJw
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Wednesday that Washington could boycott the United Nations's 2009 conference on racism in Durban, South Africa if it will likely degenerate into anti-Semitism.
Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the US government had not taken a final decision on participating in the summit.
We have no intention of participating in something like Durban I. I mean, it was an outrage, and I've been very clear with my counterparts about that, she said.
We've not tried to make a final decision on this, but let me just state very clearly we don't have any interest in participating in something that deteriorates into the kind of conference that Durban I was, she said.
The UN's first World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, held in 2001 in the same South African city, was condemned by the United States, Canada and Israel for degenerating into anti-Semitism.
Canada has already bowed out of the upcoming conference saying it would likely degenerate into ... expressions of intolerance and anti-Semitism.