A guest at an international heritage conference taking place in Bermuda next month is caught up in controversy over remarks he made about Jews, Koreans and Arabs.

Comments by Andrew Young ? the former US Ambassador to the United Nations, who is due to appear at the second African Diaspora Heritage Trail Conference on the Island ? to a Los Angeles newspaper have been branded ?disgraceful? by Republican rivals.

They also questioned Mr. Young?s continuing role as co-chairman of a Democratic campaign in the race to be Georgia governor.

Democrats said the comments were ?regrettable? but insisted they should not eclipse the decades Mr. Young has spent on the front lines in the civil rights struggle.

Controversy over Mr. Young?s remarks to the weekly Los Angeles Sentinel prompted him to announce he was stepping down from his job providing public relations help for grocery giant Wal-Mart.

In the Sentinel interview, Mr. Young was asked whether he was concerned that Wal-Mart was driving smaller, mom-and-pop stores out of business.

?Well, I think they should; they ran the ?mom and pop? stores out of my neighbourhood,? the paper quoted Mr. Young as saying.

?But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they?ve ripped off our communities enough.

?First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it?s Arabs; very few black people own these stores.?

Mr. Young, a one-time associate of Martin Luther King Jr., has said that his comments were misinterpreted.

In an earlier interview with The Associated Press about his decision to step down as head of Working Families for Wal-Mart, Young said he resigned because of the brewing controversy.

?I didn?t want to become a distraction from the main issues, so I thought I ought to step down,? Mr. Young said.

?Things that are matter-of-fact in Atlanta, in the New York and Los Angeles environment tend to be a lot more volatile,? he added.

Yusof Burke, a spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations in Atlanta, said the remarks in the Sentinel were troubling.

?We?re very concerned about stereotyping so we are very concerned when someone like Andrew Young portrays Arabs as store owners trying to rip people off,? Mr. Burke said.

Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley said the company was ?appalled? by Young?s remarks.