2006年VOA标准英语-Eritrea Expels Five UN Staff

By Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi
06 September 2006

The Eritrean government has expelled five U.N. staff members on spying allegations.

Four out of the five are members of the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The fifth was formerly¹ a security coordinator² of the U.N. Agencies in Eritrea, according to the Ministry³ of Information's official website.

Details of the expulsion were posted on the website Tuesday.  It said the staff members - from Britain, New Zealand, South Africa, Liberia, and Trinidad and Tobago - were given 24 hours to leave the country.

The website statement gave few specifics concerning the allegations, only that the five allegedly deployed⁴ spy networks, recruited mercenary agents, and provided radio communication facilities.

VOA was unable to reach the government departments involved for details, and calls to the U.N. mission did not go through.

Presidential spokesman Yemane Gebremeskel tells VOA the expulsions do not reflect a bias⁵ against the U.N. mission.

"They [the mission] have been welcomed by the population and the government has extended to them the maximum hospitality," Gebremeskel said.  "At the end of the day, UNMEE [United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea] are here under the invitation of our government.  If individuals act beyond the law, of course they are liable, this is the normal practice of any sovereign state."

The U.N. mission, charged with monitoring the contested and at times unstable⁶ border area, and the Eritrean government have had a rocky history.

In January 2004, the government arrested and held 10 Eritrean U.N. mission staff members, accusing them of dodging⁷ their national service obligations, an action the mission strongly protested.

In October 2005 the government banned mission helicopter flights over the contested border area, prompting the closure of 18 of 40 mission posts.  And, in December, the government ordered the expulsion of more than 150 European and North American staff members working for the mission.

Ethiopia and Eritrea waged a bitter war over their border from 1998 to 2000, during which about 70,000 people died.

Under a peace agreement signed in 2000, the independent Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission was created to mark the 1,000-kilometer border.  U.N. peacekeepers were dispatched in both countries to ensure the stability of the border.

1 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

2 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

5 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

6 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

7 dodging   

n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避

参考例句：

• He ran across the road, dodging the traffic. 他躲开来往的车辆跑过马路。
• I crossed the highway, dodging the traffic. 我避开车流穿过了公路。 来自辞典例句