JOHANNESBURG, Nov 1 (Reuter) - The Dalai Lama was forced to cancel a visit to South Africa when his aircraft blew a tyre at Bombay airport and no other transport was available, organisers said on Wednesday.

The Dalai Lama was due to lecture at Johannesburg's Witwatersrand University on Thursday as a guest of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.

But the South African chapter of the conference announced: "The conference...deeply regrets the peace lecture...has had to be cancelled. "The reason is that the plane from Bombay burst a tyre on the runway there and it was found to be impossible to organise any alternative travel arrangements."

The Chinese government accuses the Dalai Lama of trying to split Tibet from China and of fomenting an independence movement in the region since he fled into exile after an abortive uprising in 1959.