Efforts to rescue a UN conference against racism from foundering on the divisive issue of the Middle East will continue in South Africa today.
The gathering of more than 150 states in Durban already has been damaged by a walkout on Monday of the United States in protest at "hateful" references in early draft conference documents to Israel's "racist" treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
The withdrawal of the delegations halfway through the summit has been a significant blow to the UN's goal of producing a landmark global charter to fight racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
With the conference due to conclude tomorrow, delegates last night were under intense pressure to reach a consensus on wording on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
There were fears that delegates' positions were so divergent as to threaten to scuttle any chance of salvaging the conference. The talks on a bid to produce a fresh text on the Middle East were being chaired by the South African Foreign Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
The meeting included a Palestinian official, as well as delegates from Norway, Namibia and the European Union countries, through Mr Louis Michel, the Foreign Minister of Belgium, which currently holds the EU presidency. The Belgian Minister for Justice also arrived in Durban yesterday.
The earlier draft conference texts to which the Israelis and Americans vehemently objected have been removed. The current talks are based on an entirely new working document drawn up by Dr Dlamina-Zuma.
Negotiations continued throughout yesterday but by mid-afternoon appeared to have regressed. Delegates last night reverted to working on the original text drawn up by Dr Dlamini-Zuma.
It is understood the document does not single out Israel for criticism and recognises the right of Palestinians to self-determination.
The meeting finished early this morning without reaching any consensus and it understood that a new text based on those negotiations will be discussed today
A failure to strike agreement on the Middle East issue would trigger a walkout by European Union countries, which have agreed to take a common position on the matter. It is likely that any EU exodus would be followed by a departure of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the 13 EU accession states.
Such a walkout would leave a rump conference of mostly southern states and would be a humiliating blow to the UN and its High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Robinson, who is stewarding the event.
It would also mean that former colonial European countries would not endorse any document pledging aid to African development initiatives as a form of reparations for slavery and colonialism.
Mrs Robinson last night contacted the 15 EU foreign ministers by telephone to impress upon them the importance of the negotiations.
Calls by some African states for apologies and reparations for slavery and colonialism were also deadlocked last night.
About 80 people from non-governmental organisations attending the Durban conference held a vigil outside the conference centre last night to urge delegates to return to the "real issues of racism".