Organizers of a Peace Conference in Johannesburg said Tuesday (24th March) that, they have cancelled the conference after the South African government denied entry to the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan spiritual leader is among the five Nobel Peace Prize winners, who are to attend the conference. The conference was to be held this Friday (27th March) in Johannesburg to promote the 2010 World Cup.

 

South Africa’s two Nobel prize winners, archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President F. W. de Klerk, condemned the government for coming under pressure from China to block the Dalai Lama’s entry. They said that, they would prefer not to participate in the conference if Dalai Lama is not there. The executive director of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Geir Lundestad, also said he would stay away from the Peace Conference.

 

The government announced on Monday (23rd March) that the Dalai Lama would not be allowed to come to South Africa to attend the conference. Government has clarified that, his presence would have distracted attention from South Africa and drawn it instead to the contentious debate over the status of Tibet. On the contrary, a statement by the organizers said that, the exclusion of Dalai Lama from the conference would defeat the main purpose of other participants, for which they are attending it.