Simmering anger over the negative role played by the US at the Earth summit boiled over yesterday when the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, was booed, jeered at and slow-handclapped during his speech at its plenary session.
Observers who have attended UN summits over the past 30 years had never witnessed such scenes. The barracking he got both from other delegates in the hall and from observers in the public gallery forced him to stop speaking twice while attempts were made to restore order.
Mr Powell had been scheduled to address the summit at 11 a.m. and the auditorium was packed to capacity to hear him. But at the last minute, the Palestinian Foreign Minister, Mr Farouk Kaddoumi, was called to speak instead by his South African counterpart.
Under UN rules, the final order of speakers was entirely at the discretion of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was chairing the session. So Mr Powell had to sit below the podium and listen to Mr Kaddoumi speak about Israeli damage to Palestinian land.
He heard about all the olive trees that had been uprooted and beehives "buried alive" on the West Bank, the water supplies the Israelis had stolen, the sewage treatment works they had destroyed and the 250,000 Palestinian children who were now suffering from malnutrition as a result of Israeli actions.
Mr Kaddoumi received a prolonged and enthusiastic ovation. Mr Powell could hardly have expected a similar response, but he was obviously stunned by what happened after he was belatedly given his standard 10-minute speaking slot.
He was listened to in complete silence until he blamed lack of respect for the rule of law in Zimbabwe for pushing "millions of people toward the brink of starvation" and went on to complain about several other governments in southern Africa banning imports of US genetically modified maize.
Suddenly, the volcano blew its top. Delegates from African countries - many of whom had cheered Robert Mugabe's anti-white speech on Monday - booed and jeered. They were joined by environment and development groups in the public gallery.
Mrs Dlamini-Zuma banged her gavel repeatedly to call for order, saying the unruly behaviour was "disgraceful". But by then, anti-US delegates were stamping their feet and a banner reading "BETRAYED" was unfurled in the public gallery. Mr Powell stood there, looking lost for words.
Among the most vocal of his critics were US environmental activists anxious to dissociate themselves from the Bush administration's policies. Shouting, roaring and unveiling their own banners, some were arrested by police and had their accreditation badges confiscated.
Mr Powell's declaration that President Bush and the American people had "an enduring commitment to sustainable development" was greeted with groans, as was his statement that the US was "taking action to meet environmental challenges, including global climate change". Not even a reference to his own African ancestors could turn the tide of abuse heaped upon him.
He was the most senior representative in Johannesburg of what many would regard as the real
