VOA常速英语2008年-Military, Diplomatic Tensions Peak as UN Peacek
时间:2019-02-08 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2008年(二月)
Mekele, Ethiopia
15 February 2008
The United Nations is halting peacekeeping operations in Eritrea, and closing its mission headquarters in Asmara. The pullout comes two months after the Eritrean government cut off vital fuel supplies and ordered the peacekeepers out. The entire operation is being relocated to the Ethiopian side of the two countries' disputed border. From the Ethiopian town of Mekele, VOA's Peter Heinlein reports the pullout points up the world body's impotence in the face of a tiny country determined 1 to expel its blue-helmeted peacekeepers.
The Mekele office of UNMEE (the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea) is buzzing. The mission chief, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative Azouz Ennifar is arriving shortly for an important meeting with a senior regional official. This office is soon to become temporary mission headquarters, and hasty preparations are underway. But the officer in charge, Greek Navy Lieutenant 2 Commander Ioannis Vanizelos says no one is authorized 3 to talk.
"Here is a liaison 4 office for military observers. Today we have one visit. First we cannot give any kind of statement. Second, this is not the right time. We are expecting a visit from Addis and from Asmara. It's very important. So it's not the right time for any kind of discussions," he said.
The reluctance 5 to talk reflects UNMEE's tenuous 6 position here. U.N. missions operate only with the consent of the countries involved. Care must be taken not to make a diplomatic misstep. Special representative Ennifar declined to be interviewed for this report.
The U.N. Security Council created UNMEE in 2000, after a two-year border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea that killed 70,000 people. For seven years, the force helped keep border tensions low. But the situation changed late last year, when a commission appointed to settle the boundary dispute gave up trying to get the parties to agree and closed its doors, declaring that a line it drew in 2002 is the valid 7 border. That line awards a small town at the heart of the dispute to Eritrea.
Ethiopia rejected the ruling, but Eritrea hailed it as a final and legally binding 8 settlement. Eritrea then cut off fuel supplies to the peacekeepers, and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki sent a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon saying the presence of U.N. troops amounted to an illegal occupation.
The result was predictable. Tensions flared 9 as Eritrean soldiers surged forward, past the peacekeepers, to the edge of the frontier.
At the border 140 kilometers up the road from Mekele, the two armies are dug in, eyeball to eyeball, as the first U.N. trucks roll past to begin the evacuation. Heavily-armed Ethiopian troops shelter in a ravine at the side of the road. Eritrean soldiers look down from a hilltop a few hundred meters away.
At the border checkpoint, Ethiopian soldier Balacho Tesfaye keeps one eye on the hills above as he lifts a flimsy pole to allow the U.N. convoy 10 to pass. Speaking through an interpreter, he worries that one false step could trigger a war.
TESFAY: "Eritrean troops are here in the near place. If you go there, maybe the Ethiopian troops may attack you, because this is a tension area. The Eritrean troops are there, and the Ethiopian there.
HEINLEIN: "So we're right in the middle? So right over there are the Ethiopian troops, and over there, in those trees are the Eritrean troops?"
TESFAY: "Sure, sure."
UNMEE peacekeepers privately 11 express frustration 12 at being forced to leave at a time when tensions are rising. One military observer who requested anonymity 13, because he is not authorized to speak conceded that the world body is powerless in the face of Eritrea's expulsion order.
Many Ethiopians find the world body's inaction puzzling. In Mekele, prominent businessman Guesh Weldegebreal says it is hard to believe the international community would remain passive when a volatile 14 region seems to be spinning toward conflict.
"If the international community or the U.N. is interested to resolve the conflict, they have the economic power, they have the political power, they have the military power, they have every power to resolve the conflict, and they should not let the two countries fight again," he said. "Now the international community seems to be weak in resolving the conflicts."
U.N. headquarters in New York issued a statement Thursday acknowledging that the "'relocation" of UNMEE peacekeepers is under way. The carefully worded statement alluded 15 to another sensitive issue.
It read, "So far, some of UNMEE's convoys 16 have been allowed to cross the border without any obstruction 17, while others have been stopped and asked to turn back."
A source close to the UN mission tells VOA that Eritrea is demanding that departing peacekeepers leave behind much of their hardware, including vehicles and communications gear.
The statement also said UNMEE officials are working with authorities in Eritrea to ensure that Eritrean troops receive instructions to allow the peacekeepers to take their equipment with them when they leave.
An UNMEE spokesman in Addis Ababa repeated Friday that there would be no comment whatsoever 18, underlining that tensions, both military and diplomatic, have reached a critical stage.
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- He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官,递上了一张简短的便条进去。
- An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。
- She acts as a liaison between patients and staff.她在病人与医护人员间充当沟通的桥梁。
- She is responsible for liaison with researchers at other universities.她负责与其他大学的研究人员联系。
- The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
- He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。
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- The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。
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- The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
- Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。
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- Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。
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- He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
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- Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。
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- Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目,直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句
- She was charged with obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty.她被指控妨碍警察执行任务。
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- All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样,你就怎样对人。