Posted on 09/04/2002 5:26:23 PM PDT by Clive
The final day of the World Summit in Johannesburg has been marked by anger and disappointment at compromises on the key issues of tackling poverty and protecting the environment.
Delegates jeered and heckled US Secretary of State Colin Powell as he defended America's record on the environment and accused the Zimbabwe Government of pushing millions towards starvation.
Environmental groups - who earlier staged a walk-out at the summit - criticised America for obstructing a stronger final plan. They were also angered by President Bush's absence from the summit.
The UN Secretary- General, Kofi Annan, admitted that the 10-day conference had not achieved all that had been hoped for it.
But he argued that "Johannesburg is not the end of everything, it is a beginning".
The summit ended by endorsing a final action plan aimed at tackling global problems ranging from Aids to depleted fish stocks - but with some delegations, including the United States, registering reservations about items in the document.
Mr Annan's special envoy to the summit, Jan Pronk, told BBC News Online that "there is a huge gap between what the delegates have managed to achieve here and people's expectations of them".
Anger at the US boiled over when Mr Powell attacked the Zimbabwe Government's controversial land reform policies, inspiring howls of protest from some delegates
As the summit chairman struggled to regain control, Mr Powell told the protesters: "I have heard you, now will you hear me?"
Mr Powell then criticised Zambia - also facing a food crisis - for rejecting genetically modified corn that Americans eat every day.
He said: "In the face of famine, several governments in southern Africa have prevented critical US food assistance from being distributed by rejecting biotech corn which has been eaten safely around the world since 1995."
Demonstrators shouted "shame on Bush" and some unfurled a banner reading: "Betrayed by governments."
Security guards removed at least two protesters from the chamber.
To more jeers, Mr Powell added: "We are committed not just to rhetoric and to various goals, we are committed to a $1bn programme to develop and deploy advanced technologies to mitigate greenhouse-gas emissions."
The US has been strongly criticised for its rejection of the Kyoto treaty on global warming.
Mr Pronk, a former Dutch environment minister, said the summit had come "close to collapse".
Demonstrations also took place outside the conference "They were working till last night on reinforcing advances made in the past. That left very little time for talking about implementation," he said.
Environmental groups issued a statement on Wednesday saying the action plan strengthened "an international economic and financial system that is incompatible with the goals of sustainable development" and failed to protect the Earth.
They have welcomed new targets on sanitation in developing countries and a promise to restore global fish stocks.
But there is disappointment at the failure to set a target for increasing the use of renewable energy. The move was blocked by the United States and oil producing countries.
As the summit ended, leaders also adopted a political declaration on sustainable development, pledging to create "humane, equitable and caring global society".
A bigger crock of bullsh*t could not have been filled. "Caring global society", this from a bunch of people-haters on the one hand and a bunch of thieving tyrants on the other. In my opinion, the ragheads hit the wrong building in New York. In one short decade I have gone from thinking the UN was on the right track, to the UN is a bunch of harmless buffoons, to the UN is made of nut-cakes, to the UN is downright dangerous. Not only should the US get out of the UN, freedom-loving people should do everything in their power to destroy the UN. The best way to do that is to completely defund the bastards.
"Send In the Clowns"
Isn't it rich, aren't we a pair
Me here at last on the ground - and you in mid-air
Send in the clownsIsn't it bliss, don't you approve
One who keeps tearing around - and one who can't move
But where are the clowns - send in the clownsJust when I stopped opening doors
Finally finding the one that I wanted - was yours
Making my entrance again with my usual flair
Sure of my lines - nobody thereDon't you love a farce; my fault I fear
I thought that you'd want what I want - sorry my dear
But where are the clowns - send in the clowns
Don't bother they're hereIsn't it rich, isn't it queer
Losing my timing this late in my career
But where are the clowns - send in the clowns
Well maybe next year
Yes, and the best they got was Tony Blair and he left two hours early. Well, Mugabe, who is currently arranging a racist and Marxist starvation for Zimbabwe must have irritated him
What a pitiful farce, stuffed with lobsters and pate in a five-star hotel setting.
We should ignore them next time, and not send a delegate at all, no one.
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