2006年VOA标准英语-Dissident Bakassi Group Alleges Nigerian Crackd

By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
18 August 2006

Nigerians living in Bakassi peninsula say they are worried about their personal safety following the deployment¹ of more Cameroonian soldiers to the area in the last few days. The Nigerian security agency may have launched a crackdown on a dissident group opposed to the transfer of the territory to Cameroon.

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		Local villagers look at a Nigeria soldier walking by in Archibong, a disputed area of southern Bakassi Peninsula

The Nigerian authorities appear to be taking the declaration of independence and threats of violence by a dissident Bakassi group very seriously. The so-called Bakassi Self Determination Movement declared an independent Bakassi republic ahead of last Monday's pullout by the Nigerian military.
 
The troops withdrawal² marked an important phase in the process leading to the transfer of sovereignty over Bakassi to Cameroon.
 
By declaring independence, the dissident group rejected the Nigerian government's acceptance of a United Nations brokered³ deal to hand over Bakassi to Cameroon.
 
Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana, who represents the interests of Nigerian living in Bakassi, says the Nigerian secret police have arrested at least one dissident leader.

"Right now, the lives of Nigerians in that peninsula are in danger and as I am talking to you, state security is holding one of the leaders of the group, one Mr. Richard Ekpeyong," he said.  "He is being detained by the State Security Service. The government is not happy that they have declared their own republic. If you have abandoned our own territory, the people have the right to say we don't want to be Nigerians or Cameroonians. That is what is going on there."

The handover is also being contested on the political front as well. The argument has been that the process was faulty because it lacked the endorsement⁴ of the national assembly, as required by the constitution.
 
Usman Bugaje, chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, told VOA that President Olusegun Obasanjo had finally written to the assembly for its consent over the Bakassi transfer deal.

"They have actually written," he explained.  "The senate is in recess⁵ but they have written to the House. The president has written to the House asking the House to do the processes that are necessary for him to be able to complete the transfer of Bakassi to Cameroon. Usually, the president is in the habit of doing things in arrears⁶. Sometimes he would not do so until he is caught pants down. So in all probability he would perhaps just have remembered, at the last minute, that he needed to after all consult the national assembly and he did so, rather late."

An estimated 300,000 Nigerians live in Bakassi. Many residents have declared their intention to evacuate⁷ to mainland Nigeria.
 
The Nigerian government has asked the national assembly to approve a budget of about $50 million for the resettlement of Bakassi residents in Nigeria.

1 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

2 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

3 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

4 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

5 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

6 arrears   

n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作

参考例句：

• The payments on that car loan are in arrears by three months.购车贷款的偿付被拖欠了三个月。
• They are urgent for payment of arrears of wages.他们催讨拖欠的工钱。

7 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。