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199 肯尼亚团体组织呼吁免除贫穷国家债务
Kenyan Group Urges Debt Relief for Poor Countries
Katy Salmon
Nairobi
19 Jul 2001 15:09 UTC
Among the thousands in Genoa Friday for the summit of the leading industrialized countries. Members of a Kenyan group that is pressing for debt relief for the poor countries in Africa. At a news conference in Nairobi, members of the group said that many African countries are forced to spend more on debt 1)repayment than on the health of their people.
Kenya has a total foreign debt of more than $4 billion. The Kenya Debt Relief Network argues that it is immoral to expect Kenya and the other debt-ridden countries in Africa to continue repaying debts when Africans are dying of hunger and millions of children cannot afford to go to school.
Vitalice Meja of the Debt Relief Network says Kenya cannot 2)invest in its future development because it is spending so much money on servicing its debt. "Currently the government spends 12 times more on debt repayment than on education," Mr. Meja explains. "Four times more is spent on debt repayment than on health. Seven times is spent more on debt repayment than providing for 3)infrastructure and energy. As you know, this economy is an 4)agricultural economy. At the moment we do not provide people with roads. Crops are 5)rotting there in the farm. The 6)impact actually is so big."
Much of Kenya's debt was 7)acquired in the late 1980's, when the country was a one party state. The 8)campaigners charge that the money either disappeared into the pockets of Kenya's ruling 9)elite or was 10)misspent on poorly thought out development projects that were never completed.
Debt Relief Network member Githii Mweru says a major reason for Kenya's debt problem is that international lenders gave money without caring where it was going. "In debt cancellation, you also acknowledge the lenders' responsibility to the whole thing because they were also lending irresponsibly," Mr. Mweru says. "They knew that most of the debt that was incurred in Kenya was incurred during the most 11)repressive period. Why should citizens have an 12)obligation to pay for something that they were not involved? And even some of the money may have gone into buying weapons for 13)repression and yet people have to pay for that. It is even a moral issue."
The Debt Campaign Network says the money that would be freed by the 14)cancellation of Kenya's debt should be put into a fund to reduce 15)poverty in Kenya.
(1) repayment[ri:`peImEnt,rI-]n.偿还的款项, 报答, 报复
(2) invest in v.投资于, 买进
(3) infrastructure[5InfrEstrQktFE(r)]n.下部构造, 基础下部组织
(4) agricultural[A^rI5kQltFEr(E)l]adj.农业的, 农艺的
(5) rot[rRt]v.(使)腐烂, (使)腐败n.腐烂, 腐败
(6) impact[5ImpAkt]n.碰撞, 影响, 效果vt.撞击, 压紧, 对...发生影响
(7) acquirability [E9kwaIErE`bIlEtI]n.可得, 可获
(8) campaigner[kAm`peinE(r)]n.从军者, 出征者, 竞选者
(9) elite[eI5li:t]n.精华, 精锐, 中坚分子
(10) misspend[mIs5spend]vt.浪费
(11) repressive[rI`presIv]adj.压抑的, 压制的
(12) obligation[RblI5^eIF(E)n]n.义务, 职责, 债务
(13) repression[rI5preF(E)n]n.镇压, 抑制, 抑压
(14) cancellation[kAnsE5leIF(E)n]n.取消
(15) poverty[5pRvEtI]n.贫穷, 贫困, 贫乏, 缺少
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