2006年VOA标准英语-Somalia Government, Islamist Forces to Hold Tal

By Nico Gnecchi
Nairobi
30 August 2006

		Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, left, with Sudanese President Omar El Bashir (File photo)

The Somali government and the Islamist forces that control many parts of the country are expected to meet for a much-delayed second round of Arab League-mediated talks in Sudan later this week but remain at odds¹ on numerous key matters. Most critical is the proposed deployment² of an East African peacekeeping force to help the government shore up its limited authority, a mission the Islamists have vowed³ to resist.

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The Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional organization, including Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, says preparations have been made to dispatch African peacekeeping troops to Somalia by October.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki agreed during talks Tuesday to support the deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia to ensure political stability. Uganda has also voiced a strong commitment to sending troops.

The mission aims at strengthening the transitional government's limited authority in the southern and central regions of Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu where the Islamist courts have established control.

But the mission will meet some resistance.

The Islamists, who seized Mogadishu from factional warlords in June, have vowed to resist at any cost the deployment of peacekeepers. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the spiritual head of the Islamic forces has openly threatened neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia for attempting to intervene. He has warned that Islamists will wage a holy war against any foreign invasion.

Peace negotiations⁴ expected to begin this week in the Sudanese capital Khartoum between the transitional government and Islamists, will focus on the issue of foreign forces, says Najum Mushtaq, a Somalia analyst⁵.

"The idea of sending forces without the consent of the major factions⁶ in Somalia, which includes the Islamic courts, would of course be disastrous⁷. In the talks beginning in Khartoum, foreign forces will be the main contentious⁸ point in those talks," he said.

Key members of Somalia's transitional government have also opposed an immediate⁹ and rushed deployment of foreign forces, calling for the training and financing of Somali national forces instead. But Ethiopia and Kenya have for a long time been worried about the event of a civil war breaking out and flowing across their borders.

Somalia has been without a functioning central government since the ousting¹⁰ of Mohamed Said Barre in 1991, an event that plunged¹¹ the country into civil war.

1 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

2 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。

3 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 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。

6 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

7 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

8 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

9 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

10 ousting   

驱逐( oust的现在分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• The resulting financial chaos led to the ousting of Bristol-Myers' s boss. 随后引发的财政混乱导致了百时美施贵宝的总裁下台。
• The ousting of the president has drawn widespread criticism across Latin America and the wider world. 洪都拉斯总统被驱逐时间引起拉丁美洲甚至全世界的广泛批评。

11 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。