Senior diplomats at the U.N. Conference Against Racism are charging that the U.S. withdrawal from the conference was prompted by its fear of facing massive reparations claims over the enslavement of African Americans, and not, as it implied, by friction over the Middle East. As Israeli and the U.S. delegations packed their bags for early flights home today, a South African Government spokesman said: “The general perception among all delegates is that the US does not want to confront the real issues of slavery and all its manifestations.” The headline of an article yesterday in the Durban-based Daily news read pay-out key to US walk-out. Civil Rights activist Jesse Jackson also slammed the U.S. delegation for pulling out of the conference, saying it was a political smokescreen to evade the slavery issue. He says he will make reparations a priority when he returns to the U.S.

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