The Dalai Lama is calling on respected world figures to join forces and intervene in major disputes.
The exiled Tibetan leader says luminaries such as former Czech President Vaclav Havel and Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu could defuse situations such as the turmoil in Iraq.
He says he can’t do much alone, but world figures associated with efforts to promote peace could be effective.
Taking time out during a visit to France, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner says he had considered travelling to Baghdad before the war.
The free Paris daily Metro quoted the 68-year-old as saying: “But I said to myself ‘A Buddhist monk, who has absolutely no friends in Baghdad…I’ll walk in the streets, get a bomb on my head and die!’.
“I deeply believe that if certain very respected personalities, such as Vaclav Havel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and others, go there, they could represent peace, humanity and not this or that government.”
The Dalai Lama says he has written to Havel and is to meet him next week. He says he’ll propose “that when a violent crisis threatens to explode, these leaders of peace be more active. It’s possibly a way to find a solution to problems.”
In the Metro interview, the Dalai Lama added China’s frequent displeasure with his activities limits his ability to intervene in world crises.
“I alone can’t do very much. I represent the Tibetans and I would be more of an inconvenience to those that I want to help by provoking the anger of Beijing,” he said.
