2006年VOA标准英语-Experts Agree Somalia Getting Help From Other N

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
17 November 2006
 
Experts on Somalia have mixed opinions about some of the findings in a new U.N. commission report that accuses 10 countries from across the Middle East and Africa of supplying money, weapons, troops, and training to the Islamic militia¹ that controls much of Somalia.

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A panel of U.N. weapons and financial experts from the United States, Belgium, Kenya, and Colombia prepared the 86-page report, which the Somali Islamist movement and several countries named in the report have already dismissed.

Speaking to Somali reporters in Mogadishu Thursday, the official in charge of the Islamic courts' foreign affairs, Ibrahim Addou, called the allegations "baseless."

Addou says the report is totally unfair and ridiculous in it assertions.

The U.N. commission report, which was leaked to the press this week, alleges² that at least seven countries - Eritrea, Djibouti, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Egypt, are aiding the country's powerful Somali Islamists and three others nations - Ethiopia, Uganda, and Yemen - are backing the secular³ and internationally recognized-but-weak interim⁴ government in Baidoa.

The active military involvement of regional rivals - Ethiopia and Eritrea - in Somalia is already well-documented and the report echoes previous U.N. warnings that the conflict in Somalia could ignite a regionally-destabilizing proxy⁵ war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

But, for the first time, it also provides troubling and controversial evidence about the arms, training, and financing being given to Islamic militants⁷ in Somalia.

Nairobi-based Somali expert Matt Bryden says much of the report mirrors his own research. But he is not convinced of the report's allegation that more than 700 Somali Islamists went to Lebanon in July to fight Israel, alongside the militant⁶ Shi'ite Hezbollah group.

"We are talking about the month of July this year, when the [Islamic] courts were still highly disorganized and only had about three thousand fighters," he said.

"How, at that point, they managed to pull together about a fifth of their fighting force and send it overseas and how nobody seemed to notice Somalis in Lebanon, I think, raise more serious questions. It just seems highly improbable," he added.

Bryden says he is also skeptical⁸ about allegations that Shi'ite Muslim Iran is seeking the help of radical⁹ Sunni Muslim Islamists in finding uranium in Somalia in exchange for weapons.

"There are uranium deposits, but the last time Somalia was raised in conjunction with uranium was in the context of Iraq's supposed visit to Niger to gather uranium and the intelligence back then were faulty. So, we need to know what this is based [on]," he said.

But the director of the Nelson Institute at James Madison University in the United States, J. Peter Pham, says he believes it is entirely¹⁰ plausible¹¹ that Iran, as well as other countries named in the report, have established a cooperative relationship with the hard-line leadership of the Somali Islamic courts.

"Often, what unites these groups is the enemy rather than anything they may have in common between themselves," he said.

"And I have argued for several years now that the Islamic courts and its lead personalities¹² have long-standing and quite strong ties to Middle Eastern regimes and terrorist organizations. The trends are there today that this is going to be a very dangerous place unless somebody steps in to deal with it while it is still manageable," he added. 

 
Islamist fighters in Mogadishu (October 2006 file photo) 
  
Somali Islamists seized the capital Mogadishu in June on a wave of popular support. Since then, they have rapidly expanded their power throughout southern and central Somalia, installing strict Islamic laws called sharia.

The Islamists say they are only trying to bring law and order to a country, which has been without a functioning government for more than 15 years.

But neighboring Ethiopia and the United States have accused several top members of the Islamist movement of harboring al-Qaida operatives suspected of carrying out the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, and of trying to turn Somalia into a haven¹³ for anti-Western terrorists.

The authors of the report called on the international community to better enforce the U.N.'s widely-ignored 1992 arms embargo¹⁴ on Somalia. It also urged the U.N. Security Council to, among other things, enact¹⁵ a land, sea, and air blockade of the country and to freeze the assets of Somali businesses linked to weapons violations¹⁶.

1 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。

2 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

3 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

4 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

5 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

6 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

7 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

8 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

9 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

10 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

11 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

12 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

13 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

14 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

15 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

16 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。