2006年VOA标准英语-AU Struggles to Seal Peace Deal in Darfur

By Noel King
Debbis, Darfur, Sudan
08 June 2006
 
  
  
The task of urging holdout rebels to sign the Darfur Peace Agreement has fallen to the African Union, which brokered¹ the deal in Abuja, Nigeria. It is a difficult job, and across the region, AU peacekeepers are working relentlessly² to entice³ the rebels into accepting the Darfur deal.

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Colonel Richard Lourens and his team of a dozen African Union troops and observers are flying deep into rebel-held territory.

This is not a combat mission. Instead, it is an attempt to coax⁴ holdout Darfuri rebels into accepting a peace agreement that they do not want. 

 
A soldier from the rebel Sudan Liberation Army 
  
Rebels from a holdout faction⁵ of the Sudan Liberation Army have agreed to meet Lourens outside of the tiny village of Debbus.

But the meeting begins poorly as the heavily armed rebels say they have decided⁶ that they don't want to speak to Lourens.

The colonel is clearly frustrated⁷.

"I want them to understand that I am here to assist and I am here to help," he said.  "And they must understand that there is a peace process going on. And I want to come and help them, but they must help me to help them."

These rebels are aligned⁸ with Abdel Wahid Moahmed Nur, a commander with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) who says the May 5 Darfur Peace Agreement does not offer Darfuris enough.

Nur wants more compensation money for victims of this brutal⁹ war and a Darfuri vice¹⁰ president.

Since the signing of the accord, violence has intensified¹¹ between supporters of Nur and Minni Minnawi, the SLA commander who did sign the agreement.

The rebels in this region call Minni Minnawi a traitor¹² for accepting the peace deal.

Rebel Commander Ibrahim Abdallah is one of the first to air his concerns.

"This is not peace," he said.  "Minni has no ground here, no civilians¹³, no forces, nobody in Darfur. Minni has nothing in Darfur. What he signed is a peace agreement between him and the government. This is not for the Darfuri people. I am standing¹⁴ in front of you to tell the international community that they must know: our rights first and then peace later."

The Sudan Liberation Army split in November, with many rebels allying themselves with Minnawi. But Nur has retained immense popular support on the ground and these people think of him as a hero for refusing to accept the peace agreement.

The rebels tell Lourens they believe the African Union is conspiring¹⁵ with the Sudan government. They demand international intervention¹⁶ in Darfur.

Sudan is under intense pressure to allow a United Nations peacekeeping force to take over from the African Union, which has struggled with funding problems and a weak mandate¹⁷.

But the nation has taken a hard-line position, comparing international intervention in Sudan to that in Iraq and Vietnam.

After deliberations, the rebels agree to lead Lourens to their village so that his team can inspect the humanitarian¹⁸ situation there.

A few hundred women and children have stayed in Debbus despite raids by militias¹⁹ known as janjaweed. The rebels are protecting them from the janjaweed.

It is clear that the people here will not accept the peace deal until the rebels do.

Kultuma Mohamed has lost four sons to the war, and says she will stay in Debbus despite the dangers.

"I won't go to the camps. I will stay here and die with my sons, the rebels," she said.

It is a difficult afternoon for Lourens, but he remains²⁰ upbeat.

He hands out African Union caps to the men who inspect them before tugging²¹ them on.  He gives candy to the children and cold drinks to the women.

By the end of the afternoon Lourens is optimistic and says he is certain the people here have come to understand that the African Union is here to help.

The rebels are not so sure. Ibrahim Abdallah told VOA, "We don't trust him yet."

1 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

2 relentlessly   

adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断

参考例句：

• The African sun beat relentlessly down on his aching head. 非洲的太阳无情地照射在他那发痛的头上。
• He pursued her relentlessly, refusing to take 'no' for an answer. 他锲而不舍地追求她，拒不接受“不”的回答。

3 entice   

v.诱骗，引诱，怂恿

参考例句：

• Nothing will entice the children from television.没有任何东西能把孩子们从电视机前诱开。
• I don't see why the English should want to entice us away from our native land.我不明白，为什英国人要引诱我们离开自己的国土。

4 coax   

v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取

参考例句：

• I had to coax the information out of him.我得用好话套出他掌握的情况。
• He tried to coax the secret from me.他试图哄骗我说出秘方。

5 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

9 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。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

13 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。

14 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

15 conspiring   

密谋( conspire的现在分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They were accused of conspiring against the king. 他们被指控阴谋反对国王。
• John Brown and his associates were tried for conspiring to overthrow the slave states. 约翰·布朗和他的合伙者们由于密谋推翻实行奴隶制度的美国各州而被审讯。

16 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

17 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

18 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。

19 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

20 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

21 tugging   

n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Tom was tugging at a button-hole and looking sheepish. 汤姆捏住一个钮扣眼使劲地拉，样子显得很害羞。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• She kicked him, tugging his thick hair. 她一边踢他，一边扯着他那浓密的头发。 来自辞典例句