Sudan Peace Talks Resume in Nigeria

 

By Carrie Giardino

The Sudan peace talks being held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, are resuming Saturday after a one-day hiatus. Members of the rebel factions¹ are expected to present their position on the crisis in the troubled western Darfur region of Sudan.

The talks between the Sudanese government and the members of the two main rebel factions resumed on Saturday, after taking a day off to allow the rebels more time to prepare their position on the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan.

A separate meeting of a committee set up by the delegations² to specifically evaluate the humanitarian³ crisis met early Saturday to review the findings of the United Nations visit to Sudan.

The United Nations has threatened to impose sanctions against the Khartoum government, if it does not improve the situation there for the civilian⁴ population by Monday.

The new report says there have been small steps to improve access for humanitarian aid, but it also says the Sudanese government has failed to stop the violence by the pro-government Janjaweed militia⁵.

Earlier this week, the Sudanese government representative in Abuja said the government is not concerned by the threat of U.N. sanctions, because it is focusing on resolving the issue through the African Union-sponsored talks in Nigeria.

A London-based African analyst⁶, Alex Vines, says the United Nations needs to impose the harshest sanctions against the government of Khartoum to end the crisis.

"No government likes sanctions," he said. "It does distract trade. It does have an impact on the country, and sometimes the threat of sanctions is the most efficient and effective tool that the United Nations has, more so than the actual imposition of them. The problem with Sudan is that some of the harder sanctions that might well have a tremendous impact initially⁷ on the government is a petroleum⁸ sanction, but there is far from consensus⁹ on that from the Security Council at this current moment in time."

The U.N. report says government-sponsored security forces are still harassing¹⁰ some of the more than one million civilians¹¹ who fled their homes during the fighting and are now in camps for internally displaced people. It says there are still reports of rapes¹², beatings and looting of the camps.

The U.N. Security Council is due to meet again in New York to decide what measures will be taken against the Sudanese government.

Carrie Giardino for VOA News, Abidjan.

注释：
Abuja 阿布贾，尼日利亚首都
hiatus 间隙
faction 小集团，派别
delegation 代表团
evaluate 评价，估价
sanction 制裁
distract 转移
tremendous 巨大的
harass 侵扰
loot 抢劫

 

1 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

2 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• 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。

5 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

8 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

9 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

10 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

11 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• 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。

12 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网