UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- United Nations officials along with representatives of African countries and civil society experts gathered in Nigeria Sunday for a three-day conference on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance.

    According to a news release on the UN website, the regional meeting in the capital of Abuja, is a forerunner to a major conference on racial issues next April in Geneva.

    The Geneva event will act as a review of the landmark 2001 conference in Durban, South Africa, where a Declaration and Plan of Action were adopted to try to combat racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia.

    The review process is designed to identify concrete measures and initiatives that can and should be taken to combat these phenomena.

    It will also assess the effectiveness of existing mechanisms and promote the universal ratification and implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.