Nobel Committee Condemns S Africa Over Visa Refusal to His Holiness the Dalai LamaTuesday, 24 March 2009, 10:08 a.m.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, left, and Nobel peace laureate   Desmond Tutu attend Hiroshima international Peace Summit in   Hiroshima, western Japan, on 1 November 2006

Dharamshala: The Norwegian Nobel peace prize committee and Nobel peace laureates have condemned and expressed disappointment over the South African government’s decision to prevent His Holiness the Dalai Lama from attending a peace conference in Johannesberg, media reports say.The Nobel peace prize committee has said it will boycott the conference on Friday 27 March 2009, which is dedicated to tackling racial injustice and prejudice ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.”It is impossible for us to be part of an event where one of the main participants is not able to enter the country,” said Geir Lundestad, the committee’s secretary.Condemning the move to deny a visa to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, two of the country’s Nobel laureates – Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President FW de Klerk – said they would not attend the peace conference.”If His Holiness’s visa is refused, then I won’t take part in the coming 2010 World Cup-related peace conference. I will condemn [the] government’s behaviour as disgraceful, in line with our country’s abysmal record at the United Nations security council, a total betrayal of our struggle’s history,” Dr Tutu said.”We are shamelessly succumbing to Chinese pressure. I feel deeply distressed and ashamed,” he added.Mr De Klerk, who negotiated South Africa’s peaceful transition from apartheid rule with Nelson Mandela, said the decision was “irreconcilable with key principles . . . of openness . . . and the right of freedom of expression . . . [and] makes a mockery of the whole purpose of the peace conference”.An invitation to His Holiness the Dalai Lama to attend the peace conference was signed by Mr Tutu, Mr De Klerk and Mr Mandela, a third Nobel laureate, in November.The South African government said it did not want to upset its relationship with China. Dai Bing, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in South Africa has told the media that the South African government was asked not to allow His Holiness the Dalai Lama to attend the Johannesburg Peace Conference at this “inopportune time.”The spokesman of the Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamshala blamed the decision on “intense pressure” from China and said His Holiness the Dalai Lama was “very disappointed” by it.