No Dalai Lama; No Peace Conference

Organizers have cancelled a peace conference that was scheduled to have taken place in South Africa after the government denied the Dalai Lama entry into the country.

South Africa's government refused to admit the Dalai Lama on the grounds it would offend China, their largest trading partner.

Former South African President F.W. de Klerk and one time Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu expressed dismay at the treatment of the Dalai Lama and the conference has been cancelled.

I've had my problems with Tutu in the past concerning Israel but on this he is right as is de Klerk. Given how the world stood in solidarity with the South African people against apartheid it is unfathomable the South African government would take this position with the Dalai Lama and the plight of Tibetans.

Besides a peace conference just isn't a peace conference without the Dalai Lama.