UNITED NATIONS�The United States, Canada and the United Kingdom are denying allegations that they are threatening to boycott the upcoming Aug. 31-Sept. 7 "World Conference Against Racism" (WCAR) conference to be held in Durban, South Africa, according to activists.

The allegations were made by attorney/activist Roger Wareham, co-founder of the December 12th Movement, a Brooklyn-based Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), during a recent meeting to inform the community that the western powers "oppose the crucial issues of" the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as a crime against humanity and paying reparations to the descendants of slaves.

"We want to look forward, not to the past," UK ambassador to the UN Sir Jeremy Greenstock told The Final Call. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the State Department said that there isn�t any plan by the United States to boycott the conference.

The goal of the historic conference, according to the UN, is to produce legislation that participating countries can enact concerning issues as diverse as the treatment of immigrants and asylum-seekers in developed nations, condemning the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as a "crime against humanity" and dealing with the issue of the occupation of Palestine by Israel. But activists worry that by the time August rolls around, the conference agenda will be watered down.

"There is a fear in the western world that their governments will be held legally responsible for slavery," said Dr. Conrad Worrill, director of the National Black United Front (NBUF), who attended the regional conference in Dakar, Senegal. "The African leadership was adamant about keeping the language condemning the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the call for reparations in the document that was produced at their prepcom (preparatory committee). We witnessed the arm-twisting tactics of their former colonial masters, but the brothers (African leaders) held their ground," he said.

Dr. Worrill also pointed to recent articles in the western press that are putting a negative spin on the conference, noting that one columnist "had the nerve to write: �Let�s boycott this sham conference,� " he said.

There have been four regional prepcoms to date�Dakar; Tehran, Iran; Santiago, Chile; and Strasbourg, France. Activists have voiced concerns about what they consider to be weak language in the prepcom document produced in Chile, in reference to the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. However, any thought that the Latin American delegates are not on board with the reparations and compensation arguments was put to rest March 25, when Cuban activist and WCAR delegate Gisele Arandia traveled to Brooklyn to talk to members of The Black Radical Congress.

"It is the same struggle for all of us. We are all people from slavery�in the United States, Cuba or Brazil�we have a common thread. We in Cuba know that the success of the conference depends on the language of the agenda," she told The Final Call. "We support it."

The secretary-general of the conference is UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, who is responsible for crafting the final document for the Durban conference. The Commission on Human Rights, acting as the preparatory committee, is to hold its final preparatory session from May 21-June 1 in Geneva, Switzerland.

High Commissioner Robinson shocked the international community March 19 when she announced in Geneva that she would step down from her post immediately after the WCAR. Ms. Robinson cited frustration with the organization�s lack of funds as one of the main reasons for her decision.

UNHCHR�s budget last year was $15-million, only two percent of the UN�s $1.1 billion administrative budget. An appeal for outside funding brought the agency to $29-million. "I believe her. I don�t think that her resignation has anything to do with the World Conference," John Miller, director of The East Timor Action Network told The Final Call.

But activists like Dr. Worrill and Ray Winbush, director of the Race Relations Institute located at Fisk University, charge that the controversy over the World Conference Against Racism is what is behind the High Commissioner Robinson�s surprise decision to step down. "Mary Robinson has been the point person used to sabotage the language of the agenda," Mr. Worrill said.

"The two issues that caused the greatest uproar at the recent inter-sessional in Geneva, March 5 to 10, was reparations and support for the Palestinians," Dr. Winbush said. "We saw at this time that the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and France had no conscience in their efforts to intimidate the African NGOs and foreign ministers in attendance.

"Deborah Carr, chairperson of the White House Inter-Agency Task Force for the WCAR, actually said that the U.S. would not entertain the issue of reparations and compensation," Dr. Winbush charged.

At press time, Ms. Carr had not returned phone calls. And for her part, High Commissioner Robinson isn�t making things easier, as she continues to send mixed signals.

She traveled to South Africa on March 15 to consult with President Thabo Mbeki, who is expected to deliver the opening speech at the Durban conference. Ms. Robinson�s visit, according to observers, was aimed primarily at getting the South African president to agree with her on the agenda and the approach to be adopted.

However, Ms. Robinson, after her meeting with Pres. Mbeki, told the Chinese Xinhua News Agency that the challenges of the conference were similar to what the drafters of the universal declaration after World War II faced. She said ways must be found to recognize the wounds and dehumanization of the victims of crimes against humanity.

"The principle of compensation and reparation should apply," she said. Two days later, she was telling the press about her plans to resign.

"What is fueling all these mixed signals is the fear in the western world that if the issue of reparations is placed on the table and it becomes international law, they will have to pay Black people for their free labor," Sam Anderson of the Black Radical Congress told The Final Call. "What makes the whites so angry now is that African leaders are saying that they are also owed compensation, because the slave trade robbed Africa of its brain trust and caused under development of the nations in the motherland.

"You whites benefited from this � therefore you owe," he said.

�Saeed Shabazz