Johannesburg - The Dalai Lama feels snubbed by the refusal by South Africa to grant him a visa for last Friday's planned peace conference, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said.

The Dalai Lama expressed his regret about the denial in a letter to the archbishop, Tutu told the Saturday Star newspaper.

Beijing - Officials in south-western China's Sichuan province have persuaded Tibetans to end a boycott of spring farming in support of the exiled Dalai Lama, Chinese state media and US-funded Radio Free Asia reported on Thursday.

The officials in Sichuan's Kardze (Ganzi) prefecture visited Tibetan families in farming villages after a boycott began in early March, the Chinese government's Xinhua news agency said.

Johannesburg - The organizers of a peace conference in South Africa on Tuesday postponed the event indefinitely after the government refused to issue the Dalai Lama a visa to attend, causing other Nobel peace laureates to pull out.

The conference, which was due to be held Friday, had planned to promote peace through football in advance of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa next year.

Johannesburg - The furore over South Africa's refusal to grant the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a peace conference in Johannesburg later this week grew with former president FW de Klerk announcing Monday he was boycotting the meeting.

"Mr De Klerk will reluctantly not participate in the peace conference on March 27 and its associated activities if a visa is not granted to enable the Dalai Lama to attend the conference as well," the FW de Klerk foundation said in a statement Monday.

London, Mar 23: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has been barred from entering South Africa to take part in a peace conference linked to the 2010 football World Cup, plunging the country into a diplomatic row.

The decision was met with outrage by fellow Nobel peace laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the former President F. W. de Klerk, who are organising the conference on March 27 with the Norwegian Nobel Peace Committee.

Johannesburg  - South Africa's popular archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu has threatened to boycott a peace conference planned for next week in Johannesburg after the South African government reportedly denied the Dalai Lama a visa, a newspaper said Sunday.

South Africa's Sunday Independent quoted an angry Tutu as saying: "If His Holiness's visa is refused, then I won't take part in the upcoming 2010 World Cup-related peace conference."

The Nobel Peace Prize winner accused South Africa, which has close ties with China, of "shamelessly succumbing to Chinese pressure" and said he was "ashamed."