Peace Conference in South Africa Called Off After Dalai Lama Refused Visa

The fallout following South Africa’s decision to refuse the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a peace conference in Johannesburg has resulted in organizers opting to now call off the meeting.

With South Africa scheduled to host football’s World Cup in 2010 a peace conference was scheduled to discuss the role of racism and xenophobia in the sport and a path that could be taken to ensure the country hosted the event free of violence.

That conference quickly found controversy as the South African government refused to issue the Dalai Lama a visa to attend the meeting, declaring they did not want the issue to turn to Tibet. As a result of the decision Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former South African President FW de Klerk pulled out of the meeting and several protests were launched.

Many have accused the South African government of bowing to Chinese pressure to block the Dalai Lama from attending yet there was no plan to reverse the decision as presidential spokesman Thabo Masebe stated “We stand by our decision. Nothing is going to change. The Dalai Lama will not be invited to South Africa. We will not give him a visa between now and the World Cup.”

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