2006年VOA标准英语-Nigerian Officials Say Taylor Missing

By Joe Bavier
Abidjan
28 March 2006

Compound of the house where former Liberian warlord Charles Taylor lives near the sea side town of Calaber  
  
Exiled Liberian warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor has disappeared from his residence in southern Nigeria, officials say.  Nigeria recently said it would allow Liberian authorities to take charge of Taylor, who is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Officials from Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's office say accused war-crimes suspect Charles Taylor disappeared from his villa¹ in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar sometime Monday.

Presidential spokeswoman Remi Oyo said all the members of Taylor's Nigerian security detail have been arrested.  She said Nigeria will set up an investigation³ committee to look into what happened.

The whereabouts of the former Liberian president, who was granted asylum⁴ in Nigeria in 2003 as part of a deal aimed at ending the country's civil war, have been unclear since President Olusegun Obasanjo said Saturday he would hand him over to Liberia.

For several days, some close to Taylor have said he was missing from his riverside home.

K.A. Paul helped arrange Taylor's original agreement with Nigeria and spoke² to VOA from Ethiopia where he was attempting to bargain a new asylum deal.

"My people went and saw.  They were surprised to see him missing," Paul says. "I do not know whether he is out of the country, in Cameroon.  We have discussed various options.  Or he ran away to avoid all this crisis."

Human-rights groups, including U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, had warned Nigeria needed to step up security to prevent Taylor from fleeing.

His disappearance⁵ comes on the eve of a trip by President Obasanjo to Washington, where the Nigerian leader is due to meet with President Bush.  The United States earlier this week urged Nigeria to take steps to ensure Taylor would face trial.

Before leading his brutal⁶ rebel campaign against then-President Samuel Doe in the 1990s, he had once escaped from a prison in the United States.

Taylor is wanted by the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone for his role in that country's bloody⁷ civil war.  He faces 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for backing a rebel group notorious for its cruelty.  

1 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

5 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

6 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

7 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。