The Washington Post newspaper reported on Thursday that the United States had again threatened to boycott next month's United Nations conference on racism in Durban, South Africa.

The newspaper cited a senior State Department official, Channel Africa reported. In preliminary sessions for the conference, the US has been strongly opposed to reparations for slavery and Zionism as a form of racism being discussed at the meeting. According to the Washington Post, the US administration was to present its position to dozens of ambassadors on Friday to seek support for keeping the two topics off the conference agenda. The State Department official was quoted saying that no-one should be surprised if they arrived in Durban and found the US was not there.