Minority groups at the UN World Conference Against Racism have been exasperated by the tortuous debate on the Arab-Israeli conflict. They arrived with hopes of promoting the causes of millions of disadvantaged and displaced people but have been upstaged by the bitter war of words which has divided government delegations.

"We are more than 30 million people, but nobody is talking about us', said Kurdish activist Bakhtiar Amin.

Since the United States and Israel walked out of the conference last Monday because of what they called "hateful" language in draft documents placed before the delegates, there have been intense but unsuccessful negotiations to try to reconcile Arabs and Europeans.

This prompted the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, to comment on Thursday that the problems among member-states "created an image of an organisation that is not able to act together and tackle the essential issues".

The Middle East has also diverted attention from other contentious issues such as denunciation of slavery and colonialism and demands for reparation.

While African states can maintain the pressure through their right to vote on the conference's final declaration, lobby groups, including the descendants of slaves from the Americas, have had difficulty in making their case.