Four Nobel laureates to boycott South Africa summit. China's thanks South Africa's decision to block the spiritual leader.

Coming out in support of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who was denied a travel visa by South Africa, four women Nobel Peace laureates have refused to attend the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Cape Town next month.

Three of them - Jody Williams of the US, Shirin Ebadi of Iran and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia - are now travelling to this northern Indian hill town to grace Dalai Lama's Nobel silver jubilee anniversary celebrations Oct 2.

The trio, and a representative of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), are pulling the plug on their scheduled trip to South Africa to attend the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, being held Oct 13-15, said a Nobel Women's Initiative statement.It said the decision to cancel the scheduled trip "follows South Africa's refusal to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama for the Nobel peace laureates in Cape Town, and China's public declaration of thanks for South Africa's decision to block the spiritual leader from entering South Africa".

Tenzin Taklha, joint secretary at the Dalai Lama's office here, told IANS that the programme, being organised by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) here Oct 2, would be attended by Nobel laureates Williams, Ebadi and Gbowee.

This was the third time in five years that the Dalai Lama called off his visits to South Africa, said aides of the Dalai Lama.

Fourteen Nobel Peace laureates last week urged the South African President Jacob Zuma to allow the Dalai Lama to visit South Africa, causing a public outcry.

In the letter to Zuma, the laureates said they were "deeply concerned about the damage that will be done to South Africa's international image by a refusal or failure to grant him a visa yet again".

Signatories on the letter reportedly included Poland's Lech Walesa, Bangladeshi entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus, Ebadi, Gbowee and Northern Irish peacemakers David Trimble and John Hume.