VOA常速英语2007年-2007 Sees Renewed Fighting in Congo
时间:2019-01-31 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2007年(十二月)
Goma
20 December 2007
In late 2007, government and rebel fighters resumed fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, struggling for control of hills in the eastern part of the country and forcing hundreds of thousands of Congolese from their homes. With a political solution seemingly untenable, the situation risks turning into an international conflict, bringing in neighboring countries. Selah Hennessy reports for VOA from the regional capital Goma.
Two weeks ago, government forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo launched a major offensive against renegade troops based in the eastern province, North Kivu.
In the latest outbreak of fighting in a decade of violence, the rebels have repeatedly defeated the largely undisciplined and untrained government soldiers and now hold a stronger position than before the offensive began.
For the past 10 years, the civilian 1 population here has been the main victim of the fighting. Many cannot count the number of times they have been forced to flee, with their worldly possessions on their back, their homes and farmland left behind.
Like ants, they walk in rows miles long, fleeing the violence, looking for safety.
Some find refuge in displacement 2 camps, others with host families. But many are forced to sleep outside, in the cold, without food or shelter. Many are robbed by roaming fighters; many are raped 3.
The conflict goes back to neighboring Rwanda's genocide, in which almost one-million ethnic 4 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred. The Hutu perpetrators of that genocide, including a group known as Interhamwe, and more than a million Hutu refugees fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1994.
Two years later, Rwanda's Tutsi-led government supported a rebel movement in Congo determined 5 to wipe out the former Interahamwe and other perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide.
The rebel movement kicked off the first of two civil wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Both wars have revolved 6 around the Hutu refugees living in Congo. Both have also revolved around Congo 's extensive supply of rich mineral resources. The potential to exploit those resources has brought many of Congo 's neighbors into the conflict.
The last civil war officially ended in 2003 and elections were held in 2006, but ethnic tensions remain.
Researcher Aloys Tegera of Goma's independent Pole Institute, says the rebels, led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, want to bring home about 40,000 ethnic Tutsis who fled Congo between 1994 and 1996, when the Hutu refugees arrived.
"What happened in northern Kivu? All the Tutsi elements of northern Kivu were chased away by ex-Interahamwe who arrived in July 1994," he said. "Since then most of these people have been living in camps in Rwanda . We estimate between 40,000 to 60,000 official refugees [from Congo] are in camps in Rwanda ."
Tegera says the rebels also want to disarm 7 and deport 8 Rwandan Hutu militiamen, known as FDLR, who include ex-Interhamwe and leaders of the genocide. A 2006 peace agreement called for the rebels to join the national army and together both forces would push the FDLR out of Congo.
"An entire community was ethnically 9 purified. In the end, the Tutsi community here does not trust anyone," he said. "Part of the negotiation 10 was, 'Let us have a joint 11 force that can fight this FDLR. Once the territories of Ritshuru, Masisi, northern Kivu have got rid of this FDLR, who is a danger to our population, we will be ready to go somewhere else.' Before then I do not think so."
In August, the agreement fell apart.
The government wants Nkunda's men to integrate fully 12 into the army, which means some would be deployed 13 outside North Kivu. The government also says Nkunda only wants to exploit the mineral and farmland-rich eastern province.
Nkunda says he wants his men to stay in North Kivu to fight the FDLR.
Congo President Joseph Kabila says he will not negotiate, but his army of 20,000 troops does not appear able to defeat the insurgency 14.
The United Nations has 4,500 peacekeepers in North Kivu and a mandate 15 to protect the population, but they have not taken part in direct combat. Congo's government and many civilians 16 say the U.N. force is not doing enough to fulfill 17 its mandate.
U.N. aid representative Louis-Etienne Vigneault says Congo's population is suffering more now than since the civil war officially ended four years ago.
"We have now reached 437,000 new IDPs [internally displaced people] in a year. That is concerning numbers. Already this year we have more new IDPs than Darfur had in one year, so it has really gotten worse," he said. "Back in August we were at 225,000. So in roughly four months we got more than 200,000 more."
Vigneault says the displaced are facing serious security risks.
"These new IDPs face serious protection issues, because there is very little presence to ensure security and basic protection for these IDPs; so they face lootings, recruitment for forced labor 18, sexual violence, all those sort of protection issues that are caused by various armed groups that are present in the area," he added.
Vigneault says the numbers now exceed the capacity of aid organizations and local communities to take care of the displaced.
The U.N. Security Council is voting this month on whether or not to renew the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo.
- There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
- He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。
- They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
- The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。
- A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
- We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致,不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句
- This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
- The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
- I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
- He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
- The fan revolved slowly. 电扇缓慢地转动着。
- The wheel revolved on its centre. 轮子绕中心转动。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
- He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。
- We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
- More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。
- Ethnically, the Yuan Empire comprised most of modern China's ethnic groups. 元朝的民族成分包括现今中国绝大多数民族。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
- Russia is ethnically relatively homogeneous. 俄罗斯是个民族成分相对单一的国家。 来自辞典例句
- They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判,他们的食糖生意成交了。
- The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。
- I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤,肩膀脫臼了。
- We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
- The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
- They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
- Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
- The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。
- And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国,动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
- Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网
- The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
- The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。
- the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
- At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后,至少有300名平民下落不明。
- If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了,你就要履行你的诺言。
- This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。