Tuesday, July 24 3:43 AM SGT
S.Africa's 'Dr Death' was chemical warfare spy in US
PRETORIA, July 23 (AFP) -
South Africa's apartheid-era military biochemical warfare expert Wouter Basson, dubbed 'Dr Death', was a
chemical spy in the United States early in his career, he told the Pretoria High Court on Monday.
Basson, charged with 46 crimes ranging from murder and fraud to drug trafficking, took the stand for the first
time Monday in the trial that started in October 1999.
Basson headed the former South African Defence Force's (SADF) sinister chemical and biological warfare
programme in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The programme was involved in the development of toxins, germs, drugs and lethal implements to kill enemies
of the apartheid state.
Basson, dressed in a dark suit and tie with a golden tie pin, appeared comfortable in the witness box,
well-spoken and at times joking and boasting about his own abilities.
Basson said his training in chemical and biological warfare began in the United States where, acting under the
guise of a military service evader, he infiltrated organisations on the left and right of the US political spectrum
and gained access to top-secret government data.
He also used financial and technological methods to get information and contacts as a spy, which was a new
field for him.
Basson told the court he wanted at first to specialise in gynaecology, but his plans as a medical doctor changed
when he was called up for military service for two years.
At the end of his compulsory SADF duty, Basson, ranked then as lieutenant colonel, decided to stay on as he
enjoyed the military environment.
Basson said in the early 1980s senior SADF officers approached him about getting information on the chemical
and biological warfare capabilities available to Eastern Bloc and other countries at the time.
Basson said there was nobody else with even his minimal experience able to do this.
He said he had regarded the creation of a chemical and biological warfare capability for South Africa as an
"interesting intellectual problem".
If South African troops were indeed under threat from such attacks, he regarded it as an honour to be involved
in such a project, Basson said.
Basson stressed that his only specific instructions were that he would have to work covertly. Money would be
made available, and the methods he used to get information were left up to him.
The trial continues Tuesday.
============================================================
Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001 16:33:59 -0400
From: Dot Smith <icim@bellsouth.net>
Subject: The Trenches
In the Trenches on WCAR
Turnout 75%: Georgia Democrat, United States
Representative Cynthia McKinney's efforts to get the Bush
administration to participate in the United Nations World
Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia, Racial Discrimination
and Related Intolerance (WCAR) to be held in Durban, South
Africa August 31 - September 7, 2001 became an in-your-face,
nose-to-nose battle this week. Representatives of the State
Department were still not returning telephone calls or
responding to e-mail messages regarding WCAR.
On Friday, White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer
renewed the administration's threat to boycott the
conference entirely, if Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, and other WCAR leaders allowed African
Americans to discuss slavery or reparations. Fleischer
stated, "The U.S. plans to go. The only thing that will stop
the U.S. from going...is if the leaders of the conference
make the very unwise decision of equating Zionism with
racism or if they take other steps that have not been
supported by previous administration." Those other steps
include allowing blacks to speak about reparations for
American slave descendants.
Republicans in Congress dealt another blow to Rep.
McKinney's efforts by refusing to allow a vote on , a
resolution calling on the United States to support WCAR.
Rep. McKinney also wants to give victims of racism and
Zionism an opportunity to tell their story in their words at
WCAR.
Meanwhile, in the trenches in Atlanta, the battle
over WCAR moved to a new level. The week began with Rep.
McKinney's office laying plans to hold a congressional
educational hearing on WCAR as part of Poets for Peace
"International Speak Out" on August 16, 2001. Sister Poets
Embracing Altruistic Kinship (S.P.E.A.K.), Kimotion,
Voluptuous and Sunshyne will help coordinate local venues,
where poets and others can take the microphone to speak out
about the devastation of racism. S.P.E.A.K. will be
supported by Aquiyl and the MoorEpics Slam Team, which
includes GA Me (Georgia Me), Alexis, Malik and Yohannes. The
slam team, which competes in the National Slam August 1-5,
2001 in Seattle, Washington, has a new CD titled MoorEpics
Slam Team 2001 that is badly needed ammunition in this war
of words over WCAR.
Rep. McKinney and Congressional Black Caucus
President Eddie Bernice Johnson ended the week with a
distress call, asking everyone in the Diaspora to: CALL
DEMOCRATIC LEADER RICHARD GEPHARDT @ 202-225-0622 AND HOUSE
MAJORITY LEADER DICK ARMEY @ 202-225-7772. DEMAND THE
SUPPORT OF HOUSE RESOLUTION 211 AND US PARTICIPATION IN THE
UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON RACISM.
Every slave descendant is a victim of American
racism. As battles go, this one will not solve black
people's problems forever. Nevertheless, some battles must
be fought regardless of the outcome. This is our opportunity
to let the world know we exist and are ready to take our
place on the international stage. Moreover, we refuse to be
silenced by Bush and the forces that support worldwide
racism. Join Poets for Peace, the Congressional Black
Caucus, S.P.E.A.K, Live Poets and The DISH on August 16 and
speak out. Raise your voice and help break the WCAR silence!
=============================================================
World Conference on Racism: US Threatens Walkout
URGENT ACTION to Require US Participation
The upcoming World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) is bringing critical issues of
the lives of people around the world. From the North-South gap to slavery
to the land rights of indigenous peoples and Afro-Latinos to the impact
of globalization, crucial issues for the global struggles for culture,
land and life are on the table.
Now, the world's most powerful country, a country that was built on the
stolen land and lobor of slavery and genocide, a country riven with racial
divisions and internal oppression, and a country whose corporations and
militaries exploit racism and its many legacies for profit, is threatening
not to even attend.
The WCAR offers a global spotlight on a critical issue. It offers a place
for people throughout the world to declare a legal and moral basis for
racial justice. Demand that the US government be there, take part, and
be willing to be held accountable.
In this posting:
1. Urgent Action Alert and Dear Colleague Letter
from Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
2. U.S. Warns It May Skip Conference On Racism
Washington Post
3. Americas’ Conference: Neo-liberalism Exacerbates Racism
InterPress Service wire
4. Declaring the Slave Trade a Crime Against Humanity
Ron Daniels, from The Black World Today
5. Racism conference splits Africa, West
Associated Press wire
[Copyrighted works distributed in accordance with Fair Use doctrine]
____________________________________________________________
1. URGENT ACTION NEEDED:
Please call Minority Speaker Dick Gephardt and House Majority Leader
Dick Armey and ask them to push for the inclusion of House Resolution
211 onto the House calendar early next week. The Bush Administration is
seeking to block US participation in the UN World Conference on Racism.
This is unacceptable, we need calls made TODAY AND MONDAY to pressure
the leadership to adopt this important Resolution and push for US
participation in this historic conference.
CALLS SHOULD BE MADE TO DEMOCRATIC LEADER GEPHARDT 202-225-0622 AND
HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER DICK ARMEY AT 202-225-7772. DEMAND THE SUPPORT OF
HOUSE RESOLUTION 211 AND US PARTICIPATION IN THE UN WORLD CONFERENCE ON
RACISM.
Please call Jon Fremont in Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's office at
202-225-1605 for more information.
July 27, 2001
Dear Colleague:
As you may be aware, the United Nations World Conference Against Racism,
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) is
scheduled to begin on August 31, 2001 in Durban, South Africa. Despite
the fact that planning for this important conference began over 3 years
ago, the United States has not made a firm commitment to participate or
support the WCAR. Unfortunately, racism and discrimination continue to
exist in the United States, as it does in virtually every nation in the
world, and it is essential that the United States, as a global leader in
many fields, sustain this position at the WCAR.
In response, I have introduced House Resolution 211, which states the
significance and importance of the conference. Further, H. Res. 211
simply urges the following of the Bush Administration:
That Secretary of State Colin Powell lead the United States
delegation to the WCAR in Durban, South Africa in order to heighten
the delegation's stature and to demonstrate to the world the
seriousness with which the U.S. approaches not only the WCAR, but
the global situation of racial discrimination.
That the Administration increase support for the WCAR by providing
financial assistance in support of the conference, and to insure
that such assistance is consistent with previous commitments the
U.S. has made to similar fora.
That the Administration adopt policy positions at the WCAR that seek
to advance an understanding of current and historic factors
contributing to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and
related intolerance.
It is essential that the United States play the same leading role in the
World Conference Against Racism that it seeks and maintains in other
international organizations and conventions. As I am confident that you
share my belief that racism and discrimination is a scourge in our
global society, please support H. Res. 211.
Sincerely,
Eddie Bernice Johnson Cynthia McKinney
Member of Congress Member of Congress
____________________________________________________________
2. U.S. Warns It May Skip Conference On Racism
By Darryl Fears and Alan Sipress
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 27, 2001; Page A01
The United States will not attend next month's World Conference Against
Racism if two contentious issues are included in the conference agenda,
a senior State Department official said yesterday.
Top State Department officials plan to inform three dozen foreign
diplomats today of the Bush's administration's position on the issues of
Zionism as racism, and reparations for slavery and colonialism, the
official said. The Washington-based ambassadors, representing several
continents, are expected to meet in Foggy Bottom with Marc Grossman,
undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Undersecretary of
State Paula J. Dobriansky. They intend to tell the ambassadors that the
United States needs their help to build support for striking the two
topics.
"We need to be really clear about our position," the senior State
Department official said. "We don't want anybody to be surprised when
they look up on the day of Durban and wonder why we're not there."
The absence of the United States would be a severe blow to the
convention, which is being billed as the most important international
discussion of race ever held. Formally titled the United Nations
Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related
Intolerance, it is scheduled to start Aug. 31 for an eight-day run in
the coastal South African city of Durban.
The State Department official's statement was the latest warning about
the conference by the Bush administration, which has voiced its
displeasure over the agenda for months. And it was a firm message to
Mary Robinson, the conference's top organizer and the United Nations
high commissioner for human rights, who on Monday will start the last
round of meetings in Geneva to discuss the agenda. A five-member State
Department team will attend those discussions, a White House official
said.
"I am aware that there are quite a number of hurdles," Robinson said
yesterday from Geneva. She met twice with Secretary of State Colin L.
Powell, in February and June, and once with national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice in February. What she heard in those meetings, she
said, was encouraging.
Robinson and other conference advocates have said that the two issues in
question are only proposals for the agenda. Some African Americans and
African nations have said they are due reparations from countries that
participated in the slave trade during the 1700s and early 1800s. The
dispute over Zionism goes back to a 1975 U.N. resolution equating it
with racism. The resolution was repealed 10 years ago, but some Arab
organizations proposed similar language for the conference's draft
declaration.
Whether the proposals will be adopted is an open question. The issues
are "being discussed by small teams of negotiators behind closed doors,"
Robinson said. "They face a considerable challenge because time is
short."
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are among the organizations
imploring Bush to send a delegation to the conference. Others include
the NAACP, the National Urban League and the Leadership Conference on
Civil Rights.
"I think . . . that the U.S. should be at the conference," said Hilary
Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau. "I think this is an
important opportunity to address these issues of race. It's something
that many of us have been actively engaged in preparing for."
Others had stronger words. Wade Henderson, director of the Leadership
Conference, said the United States lost its seat on the United Nations
Human Rights Commission and was left out of the Kyoto pollution accord
"because of a lack of leadership."
That is becoming part of the administration's form, said Rep. Cynthia
McKinney (D-Ga.). "The Bush administration ought to get accustomed to
standing alone," she said. "Hopefully they will choose to join the rest
of the world and not choose to stand alone in isolation."
A Jewish member of the conference steering committee sided with Bush. "I
think the U.S. should vigorously protest," said Rabbi Marvin Hire,
founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center of Los Angeles. "If it's
going to be a circus, the U.S. should send a very low-level delegation."
"The Arab bloc really wants to hijack the conference," he said. "I'm
afraid the entire conference is going to be just a lot of shouting that
has nothing to do with issues today because of the frustration over
what's going on in the Middle East."
Others believe the trouble with the conference lies in its planning. Its
plan for action was adopted in March, leaving little time to organize
the event. An equivalent document for the World Conference on Women,
held in September 1995 in Beijing, had been adopted 13 months before.
The Conference on Women, though controversial, was ushered in with an
outpouring of fanfare and money. The Clinton administration donated
nearly $6 million to the event, and then-first lady Hillary Rodham
Clinton was one of 50,000 attendees.
By contrast, the Conference Against Racism has been greeted with near
silence in the media. President Clinton donated $250,000 on his way out
of office, and the Bush administration has shown no intention to
increase that sum. Only some 10,000 conference attendees are expected in
Durban.
Robinson said the conference could be a success, especially if it
resulted in a plan to deal with racism in the future. "This is not an
easy conference to prepare for," Robinson said. "We have never addressed
together the darker side of our society: racism, anti-Semitism, the
mistreatment of immigrants, the riots in London by Asian youth and
problems in Germany. It is a difficult issue."
In the United States, civil rights activists say a discussion of slavery
and reparations would be an uncomfortable one that the Bush
administration should not avoid. Henderson, of the Leadership Conference
on Civil Rights, said the issue should remain on the table.
"I believe that democratic principles are advanced amid vigorous and
open debate," he said.
One such debate involving the conference against racism would have taken
place at a congressional hearing earlier this week, but the Wednesday
meeting of the House subcommittee on international operations was
postponed until Tuesday by its chair, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.).
The postponement prompted a barrage of charges from McKinney, a senior
member of the committee. She said the Bush administration officials who
were slated to testify would be in Geneva next week, as would conference
advocates who were to attend the hearing.
"The bottom line is that the Republicans maneuvered to protect the Bush
administration from any overt criticism with respect to the world
conference," McKinney said. "The Republicans in the House subverted the
bipartisan way in which we've been working almost for an entire year.
They want to prevent black people from having an opportunity to discuss
the World Conference Against Racism in an official setting."
Aides to Ros-Lehtinen disputed that claim, saying that a key committee
staffer had to travel out of the city for a family funeral. A spokesman
for the committee said that such postponements were common, and that
some had been made on McKinney's behalf.
Upon hearing that explanation, McKinney said, "It's an affront. The
nation's business doesn't stop for any reason. There is no excuse for
four weeks of planning being pulled out from under us a day before the
hearing."
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
____________________________________________________________
3. AMERICAS’ CONFERENCE: NEO-LIBERALISM EXACERBATES RACISM
The neo-liberal economic model is intensifying structural racism and
discrimination in the Americas, representatives of indigenous, black,
gypsy and migrant communities, as well as sexual minorities, from a
number of American countries have complained.
The closing address of the Forum of the Americas for Diversity and
Pluralism, which ran last month in Quito, Ecuador, was delivered by
Guatemalan Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchu, an indigenous leader.
The penalisation of racism as a crime against humanity, the right of
peoples to self-determination, and reparations for damages caused by
slavery, colonialism and racism are several of the demands set forth by
the activists meeting in the regional conference preparatory to the
coming world summit against racism.
The forum also has urged national and international bodies to provide
protection for people living with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus),
migrants, sexual minorities, tribal peoples, the elderly, women and
children.
READYING WORLD CONFERENCE
The joint proposal drawn up by this preparatory conference will be
presented at the United Nations World Conference Against Racism and
Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, to open Aug
31 in South Africa.
Participants also protest the application of the neo-liberal free market
economic model in the region, which they say exacerbates racism and
xenophobia.
"This economic doctrine destroys civil society and transforms
citizenship into a privilege that is increasingly inaccessible for
minorities," stresses Dennis de Oliveira, the head of the Union of
Blacks for Equality, a Brazilian NGO. He argues that the formal
mechanisms of democracy have been weakened and end up actually
accentuating discrimination.
"There is a systematic campaign against the legislative powers, a
penetration of election campaigns by political marketing, and a
de-politicisation of the social debate," he adds.
In former colonies like the countries of Latin America, aristrocratic
and slave-holding structures remain nearly intact, and the adoption of
the neo-liberal model "has heightened the process of exclusion and
marginalisation, and condemns many peoples to disappear," De Oliveira
says.
'DEMOCRATISING' POVERTY
According to him, as it expands, that process is leading to an increase
in the number of people excluded from society, in what he describes as
"the democratisation of poverty" and the destruction of civil society.
The Brazilian activist says the conference in South Africa was crucial
in the building of a grand international alliance of "the peoples of the
African diaspora and indigenous peoples" opposed to "neo-liberalism" and
in favour of "the logic of life, rather than the logic of objects."
Spokespersons for the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of
Ecuador, one of the groups that organised the meeting, say NGOs have
assumed a collective commitment to hold joint actions in the region.
"The actions will focus on creating a new global society, based on the
principles of diversity and pluralism, and on the recognition of the
plurinational character of countries and the autonomy of peoples," says
Ecuadorean indigenous leader Blanca Chancoso.
The right to diversity must be respected, and "the other" must be
recognised and respected, with tolerance as the bridge for
understanding, she stresses. Myrna Cunningham from Nicaragua, the dean
of the University of the Autonomous Region of the Nicaraguan Atlantic
Coast, says structural racism can only be eradicated through pressure
from the various sectors of society, exercised through "mobilisations,
public awareness and participation."
INDIGENOUS RIGHTS
She also underlines that racism and xenophobia gain strength from
ignorance of the ancestral legal systems of minorities, the forced
displacement of indigenous and black communities, and the imposition of
development projects that have nothing to do with local cultures.
The conference once more drew the spotlight to the problem of the rights
of indigenous peoples in Latin America. Chancoso points out that while
the growing strength of Ecuador's well-organised indigenous movement and
the phenomenon of Mexico's Zapatistas - an internationally renowned
indigenous rebel group - "have become quite visible, in many countries
of the continent, indigenous peoples are struggling for recognition of
their rights as outlined in International Labour Organisation convention
169."
Chancoso adds that while some constitutions, like Ecuador's,
specifically underlines the rights of indigenous peoples based on
recognition of their identity, they remain merely paper promises that
are not applied in practice. "We must globalise the fight for our
rights," the activist urges. (IPS) (April 2001)
____________________________________________________________
4. DECLARING THE SLAVE TRADE A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY:
The Moral and Legal Basis for Reparations
By Ron Daniels - ronmae@aol.com
Courtesy of The Black World Today.
In September of this year in Durban, South Africa, the United Nations
will hold what could be one of the most momentous events of the 21st
century, the World Conference on Racism. Thousands of people from around
the world are expected to attend a conference, which will address one of
the most malignant maladies to plague the darker peoples of the world
historically - racism and white supremacy.
People of African descent and other people of color from the developing
world are anxious to discuss the past and present effects of the
castigation and oppression of groups of people on the basis of skin
color. As might be expected, the United States and many of the nations
of Europe are casting a leery eye towards the conference for fear that
the issue of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and the demand for
"restitution" will become a dominant theme of the proceedings. Indeed,
the United States is taking extraordinary steps to prevent the slave
trade and the question of reparations from appearing on the agenda at
all.
This is proving to be a difficult task. Spearheaded by veteran human
rights activists and organizers from the December 12th Movement and the
National Black United Front, a formidable coalition of organizations is
mounting a determined effort not only to ensure that the slave trade and
restitution are on the agenda, but in a bold and visionary move, these
organizations are pressing for the introduction and passage of a
resolution at the World Conference on Racism that would declare the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade a "crime against humanity."
The prospects that such a resolution will pass is causing grave
trepidations in the United States and among the circle of nations which
are culpable in the most horrendous holocaust in human history. Without
question, the passage of this resolution will provide an unassailable
moral foundation for the call for reparations. Equally important, this
resolution will also provide legal undergirding for the demand for
reparations in international law since there is no statute of
limitations on crimes against humanity. Hence, the argument that the
slave trade was a long time ago and therefore should not be subject to
litigation or other forms of redress will be severely undermined.
There should be no question about the veracity of the claim that the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity. By some
estimates more than 100 million Africans lost their lives during the
holocaust of enslavement. Beyond the unthinkable loss of life however,
in "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa," Walter Rodney documents the
devastating effects of the slave trade on African people in terms of the
disruption and destruction of families, communities and nations, the
distortion of social, economic and political relations and the loss of
"development opportunity."
The economies of Europe and America developed off the free labor of
enslaved Africans while the continent of Africa was pillaged, ravished
and underdeveloped. Rodney recounts that whole industries and cities
were born and flourished as a consequence of the involvement of Britain
and France in the enslaving and trafficking of Africans. Concurring with
Rodney, Eric Williams in "Capitalism and Slavery" documents how the
fruits of the lucrative Triangular Trade made huge fortunes for
Europeans in the Caribbean and North America, particularly New England.
An entire continent was demonized, demoralized, devastated and hurled
backward in history by the holocaust of enslavement.
Once in this hemisphere, enslaved Africans destined for North America
were subjected to a slave breaking process which not only involved raw
naked terror and intimidation but cultural aggression, the calculated
attempt to dehumanize and de-Africanize the African. Malcolm X once said
that of all the crimes committed by Europeans against Africans, the
greatest crime was to take away our names. By that assertion Malcolm
meant the effort to destroy our culture.
Our ancestors were forbidden to speak in their native tongue, to
practice indigenous religions or to play African musical instruments. In
addition, our ancestors were taught that their African heritage tainted
them and that their color was a "badge of degradation." Any White
person, no matter what their status or station in life was to be
respected and obeyed at all times. And, as chattels, property, our
ancestors could be sold and traded at will with no obligation to keep
families together. There should be no question but that the slave trade
was a crime against humanity. Slave labor made America prosperous while
destroying and stagnating the lives of the captive sons and daughters of
Africa in this country; a crime compounded by the fact that we were
eventually "emancipated" without compensation, no forty acres and mule,
no property or capital in a growing capitalist economy, whose explosive
growth was directly attributable to the free labor of our ancestors.
Europe and America know that they owe African people a debt too enormous
to be calculated. But like cowards, they continue to refuse to take
responsibility for their dastardly deeds. And, they will continue to
refuse to acknowledge their crimes until the victims of the holocaust of
enslavement unite and fight to compel the perpetrators to confess,
apologize and make suitable compensation.
It is for this reason that African people, other historically oppressed
people and our allies must transform the World Conference on Racism into
a forum for discussing the greatest crime against humanity in history.
In so doing, we will build momentum for the just and righteous demand
for reparations for Africans in America and the world!
Copyright (c) 2001 The Black World Today. All Rights Reserved.
____________________________________________________________
5. RACISM CONFERENCE SPLITS AFRICA, WEST
3 June 2001
GENEVA: An upcoming UN anti-racism conference is meant to find new ways
of promoting future racial harmony. So far, it has done little but
reopen past divisions between the conquerors and the oppressed.
A two-week meeting in Geneva intended to draw up an agenda and
declaration for the World Conference Against Racism in August ended in
deadlock Friday over whether countries that prospered from slavery and
colonisation should formally apologise for the suffering they caused -
and pay compensation.
Africans want both, but Western nations led by the United States,
Britain and Canada are resisting any such move. Diplomats from 21
countries were told to begin another two weeks of talks in late July, in
hopes of achieving progress before the conference formally opens Aug. 31
in Durban, South Africa.
Although there are other disagreements - such as what the conference
should say about the Middle East - the question of slavery has proved
the most vexing.
A proposed declaration prepared by African governments described the
slave trade as "a unique tragedy in the history of humanity, a crime
against humanity which is unparalleled" and said slavery, colonialism
and apartheid "have resulted in substantial and lasting economic,
political and cultural damage to African peoples."
It demanded an "explicit apology" and the establishment of an
international compensation program.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson told the Geneva
meeting that there should be recognition of what happened, adding that
she saw "great merit in a willingness to have that recognition in the
form of an apology."
But countries that used slaves and former colonial powers are holding
out.
Western negotiators have been keeping a low profile and refuse to talk
about their positions.
Sources close to the meeting said Washington is ready to accept a
statement acknowledging that slavery, even deep in the past, is among
the causes of racism today and to "express regret" for past use of
slaves.
But it stops short of an apology and refuses to accept any suggestion in
the text that countries might be financially liable today. Such a move,
wealthier nations fear, could open them to almost endless lawsuits.
African groups argue that there should be some compensation for slavery
- because, in effect, labour was stolen from the African continent and
helped the development of now-rich nations - and for the stripping of
natural resources during colonial times and even today.
The huge debts of the developing world can be directly linked to slavery
and colonialism, they say, demanding that as a result such debts should
be forgiven.
"The U.S. position is weak because it is legalistic. They say the
question of reparations is difficult because the victims are no longer
alive. We say the victims have heirs," said Alioune Tine, of the African
Coalition for the Defence of Human Rights.
Advocates of compensation point out that Germany is reimbursing victims
of Nazi slave labour programs, Switzerland is paying heirs of Holocaust
victims for money that lay dormant in bank accounts after World War II
and South Africa is trying to address the injustices of the apartheid
era. (AP)