Dalai Lama Visa Row Derails Cape Town Nobel Laureate Summit
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Plans to hold a summit of Nobel peace prize winners in Cape Town in honor of Nelson Mandela were scrapped after laureates pulled out of the meeting, saying they were protesting the government’s refusal to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama.
“There is no doubt that the South African government is to blame for this situation,” Mayor Patricia de Lille, a member of the opposition Democratic Alliance, told reporters in the coastal city today. “They made it clear to representatives of the Dalai Lama that no visa would be issued for his attendance.”