U.N.: Anti-racism summit 'back on track'

GENEVA, Switzerland, April 21 (UPI) -- The Czech Republic joined other nations snubbing a U.N. conference on racism, refusing to return Tuesday, the day after Iran's president attacked Israel.

Despite the Czech pullout, an official said the conference in Geneva appeared to be "back on track."

U.N. officials engaged in damage-control during the second day of the conference. They said they found Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks offensive but didn't think they justified a walkout by several countries, The New York Times reported.

The officials also said that, to their knowledge, no country had requested a change in a draft conference statement that was agreed to Friday, suggesting the situation has calmed down.

"To my mind the conference is back on track," conference spokesman Ramu Damodaran said.

Twenty-three European Union delegations walked out Monday but the Czech decision to stay away showed no sign of influencing the other 22 remaining in the conference, one participant said. Britain's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Peter Gooderham, said Ahmadinejad's speech was "completely unacceptable" but "We don't want to let Iran dictate the outcome of the conference."

Ahmadinejad Monday called Israel a "cruel and repressive racist regime," prompting delegates from European nations to walk out and drawing a rebuke from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said, "I deplore the use of this platform by the Iranian president to accuse, divide and even incite."

The United States, Israel and several other nations boycotted the conference, saying they were concerned it would become an attack on Israel rather than focus on discrimination and racism.

During a media availability Tuesday, President Barack Obama called Ahmadinejad's language "appalling" saying it was "the kind of rhetoric we have come to expect from President Ahmadinejad.''