I'm no big fan of the Dalai Lama (who gave Bush comfort on Iraq), but this seems a bad development for people living under occupation anywhere, including Tibet.
Portion below; whole thing here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008907157_apafsouthafricadalailama.html
Organizers shelved a peace conference meant to show how sports can bring people and nations together because South Africa's government - fearing trouble with China - won't allow the Dalai Lama to attend.
South Africa's soccer officials and a grandson of Nelson Mandela, who were putting Friday's conference together, announced Tuesday it was postponed indefinitely because the Dalai Lama had been barred.
The conference had been in doubt since South Africa's government said a day earlier the Dalai Lama was not welcome, prompting condemnation and a boycott by retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others.
Queen Rania of Jordan, the entire Nobel Peace Committee, other laureates and Hollywood actress Charlize Theron, a native of South Africa, had been among those confirmed to attend.
Friday's conference was intended to highlight ways soccer can promote peace, and all Nobel peace laureates had been invited, along with world statesmen and celebrities. Irvin Khoza, who is chairman of the South African committee organizing the 2010 World Cup, also heads the professional soccer league that was arranging and funding the conference.
Organizers said they hoped to hold the event when the Dalai Lama could attend, and that they hoped that would be before the World Cup. South Africa's tournament will be the first in Africa.
Asked by reporters whether the Tibetan Nobel Peace laureate would be issued a visa before the sporting event, Thabo Masebe, spokesman for President Kgalema Motlanthe, said: "No, we won't."
He said he did not want a visit to be a distraction at a time when South Africa was hoping to showcase its transformation from pariah apartheid state to international, multiracial role model.
"You can't remove Tibet from" the Dalai Lama, Masebe said. "That becomes the issue and South Africa is no longer the issue."
Tibet's government-in-exile said South Africa was acting under pressure from China, but South Africa's government denied it. South Africa is China's largest African trading partner.
Masebe had said a day earlier South Africa would not allow the Dalai Lama to visit for the peace conference, citing South Africa's ties to China and generating sharp criticism of South Africa. Fellow Nobel peace laureate Tutu as well as members of the Nobel Committee pulled out of the conference in response.
Mandla Mandela, Nelson Mandela's grandson and a member of the conference organizing committee, told reporters Tuesday he wanted the Dalai Lama there when the conference is held. Barring a leader of the Dalai Lama's stature, the younger Mandela said, "is really worrying and saddening. Where are we headed in the future?"
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