On the last day of the Durban World Conference against Racism (Saturday 8 September 2001), a prolonged procedural debate created a lot of suspense. That debate related to the proposal by the Foreign Minister of Syria to have two more paragraphs of the draft declaration, on foreign occupation, adopted. This led to four suspensions of the meeting of the Main Committee and the replacement of its chairperson. Despite an appeal by the President of the Conference (Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma), no consensus could be reached on the Syrian proposals. After a confused debate, a “no action motion” made by the representative of Brazil was withdrawn by its author but reintroduced by the representative of Belgium on behalf of the European Union. That motion was adopted by 51 votes to 37, with 11 abstentions and 70 delegations absent or not participating in the vote. That vote concluded the debate at the Main Committee and allowed the World Conference to adopt the Declaration and the Programme of Action by consensus.