Zimbabwe and Namibia will not pursue their demands for reparations for past injustices against their former colonial rulers Britain and Germany at the World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, but would do so separately, a South African official said on Monday.

Namibia has previously indicated it wishes to raise what it believes is Germany's genocide of the Herero people, while Zimbabwe wants Britain to keep to it promise to help fund land reform in terms of the 1979 Lancaster House agreement.

These positions are expected to be raised at a meeting of the African bloc which began in Durban on Monday morning and where African ministers are negotiating a common position on such controversial issues as reparations and an apology for slavery and colonialism.

The position will be used as a basis for negotiating with other regional blocs at the WCAR and Western countries.

'It is a red herring, a political sleight of hand'

An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that South Africa had held bilateral talks with Namibia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

The Namibians had apparently indicated that they did not wish to burden the international conference with a matter between themselves and Germany and which could be resolved bilaterally.

However, the official said Namibia might refer to it broadly in the context of acts of genocide worldwide and use the Namibian experience as an example.

The Namibians had also tried to reassure the South African government that they would not demand reparations from the new democratic government in Pretoria for the injustices suffered under apartheid.

"They won't be demanding reparations from fellow erstwhile victims."

The Zimbabwean government had a similar attitude to its calls for reparations from the Britain, in particular promises made about land reform and did not wish to "bog down" the racism conference with an issue that was being resolved elsewhere.

The official repeated the South African government's position on reparations, saying African countries were not looking at financial compensation for individual victims of colonialism and slavery, but wanted a developmental approach in the context of the New Africa Initiative.

It is understood that the Tanzanians are unhappy about what they believe is a new African position on an apology, acknowledgment and reparations for slavery and colonialism, believing there is a departure from the original position adopted at Dakar earlier this year.

On concerns from especially western countries that an apology for slavery would result in lawsuits from those seeking compensation, another South African official said: "An apology to use is equivalent to an acknowledgment that they wronged us. They can apologise without prejudice."

Meanwhile, a senior government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, has accused the United States of using the Middle East issue as a red herring.

His view is shared by the Palestinian delegation, which in a statement last week said it did not support equating Zionism with racism and said some countries were nevertheless using the issue as a smokescreen.

Earlier, diplomats told Sapa that equating Zionism with racism was never part of the WCAR's draft declaration or programme of action.

The government official said: "It is a red herring, a political sleight of hand. The issue that they thought would be heavy was slavery and therefore they had to divert attention elsewhere."

South African officials have privately said that the success of the conference would not depend on whether "we find or fail to find a solution to the Middle East problem".

"This is not the world conference on the Middle East. Those who introduced the Middle East were mischievous in the extreme." - Sapa