South Africa bars Dalai Lama from a peace conference By Celia W. Dugger
New York Times Posted: 03/23/2009 06:44:16 PM PDT JOHANNESBURG, South Africa --- South Africa has barred the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, from attending a peace conference this week that is supposed to promote the 2010 World Cup and the potential of sport to unite people across races and nations. The government said Monday that the Dalai Lama's presence at the conference would have distracted the world's attention from South Africa's hosting of the World Cup and drawn it instead into the fraught relations between the Dalai Lama and China, one of the country's most important trading partners. Thabo Masebe, a government spokesman, said the Tibetan leader's presence "would not be in South Africa's best interests." Three of South Africa's Nobel laureates had invited the Dalai Lama to attend, and the government's move to deny him entry drew sharp condemnations Monday. Critics of the decision, including Desmond Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, said South Africa had caved in to China, which has aggressively sought to extend its influence across Africa in recent years. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China said at a news conference earlier this month that foreign countries should stay away from any involvement in the Tibet issue. "We are shamelessly succumbing to Chinese pressure," Tutu told a South African newspaper, The Sunday Tribune, a statement his office confirmed Monday. "I feel deeply ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Advertisement ------------------------------------------------------------------------ distressed and ashamed." South Africa's decision comes at a particularly charged moment in China's relations with ethnic Tibetans. China has sent thousands of troops to the Tibetan region to quell any repeat of the anti-Chinese riots that broke out a year ago in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule that led to the Dalai Lama's flight into exile in India. China has accused him of pursuing independence for Tibet, while he maintains that he is seeking only autonomy, not separation. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
