[Canada made noises about walking out earlier--I wonder if they really will pull out? I seee Blair's minions haven't said very much.]

France Threatens Walkout at Race Conference

PARIS (Reuters) - France and its European partners could quit the U.N. conference on racism in Durban on Wednesday if it insists on branding Israel as racist, a cabinet member quoted Prime Minister Lionel Jospin as saying.

But a European Union spokesman in Durban said the 15-state bloc had no plans at this stage to pull out and was pressing for language calling Israel racist be stripped from documents.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jean-Jack Queyranne, who usually briefs journalists after cabinet meetings, said Jospin informed his ministers about this at Wednesday's weekly session.

"If the link between Zionism and racist is maintained, the issue of our departure -- along with the Europeans -- will come up immediately," Queyranne quoted Jospin as saying.

"The prime minister has taken a firm position," Queyranne said, adding that President Jacques Chirac also spoke about the issue at the cabinet meeting. The United States and Israel pulled out of the conference in protest Monday.

A decision on a walkout could be taken "in the next few hours," Queyranne added without giving further details.

In Durban, EU spokesman Koen Vervaeke said: "There is no question of pulling out at this stage. No member state has called for it."

The EU, South Africa and Arab delegates were huddled in negotiations on a fresh draft text on the Middle East and the EU has said it wants a deal by Wednesday night. Vervaeke declined to say what would happen if no deal were deemed possible.

Queyranne also quoted Cooperation Minister Charles Josselin as saying a walkout by France and its EU partners "would mean a failure with international consequences at the United Nations and in relations between developing countries and Western countries."

-- Anonymous, September 05, 2001