25. Mar 2009
Peace conference "postponed" after Dalai Lama refused visa
(AP) A conference celebrating South Africa's emergence as a multi-racial society has been called off after the Pretoria government refused to give a visa to a principal guest, the Dalai Lama because of pressure from Beijing. The peace conference bringing together South African Nobel Peace Prize laureates and international advocates of peaceful reform was due to be held on 03 April in Johannesburg as a prelude to South Africa's hosting of the soccer World Cup in 2010. Organisers decided to "postpone indefinitely" the conference, whose theme was to be soccer's role in overcoming racism and xenophobia. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and another South African Nobel Peace Prize winner, F.W. de Klerk, both said they would boycott the peace conference. Tutu said: "We are shamelessly succumbing to Chinese pressure. I feel deeply distressed and ashamed".