2006年VOA标准英语-Exiled Ugandan Spiritual Leader Looks to Homela

By Nico Gnecchi
Dadaab, Kenya
20 September 2006

Former rebel leader and self-proclaimed spiritual medium Alice Lakwena said she is ready to return home to Uganda after years of exile in a refugee camp in northern Kenya. The charasmatic leader, who claims to channel the Holy Spirit, sat down with Nico Gnecchi in Dadaab recently, near the Somali border in northeastern Kenya.

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Alice Lakwena flanked by disciple¹ of Holy Spirit Movement, 20 safety precautions are posted behind them  
  
The compound of Alice Lakwena and the 46 followers² who live with her in Dadaab is a little less dusty and makeshift compared to the usual homes that dot this refugee camp in northeastern Kenya. The self-proclaimed spiritual leader of the Holy Spirit Movement inhabits one of three brightly painted houses, complete with metal roofing. The housing that surrounds her compound are make-shift, mud constructions, packed with more than 140,000 refugees.

The spiritual leader is resolute³ in her spiritual mission.

"I am Alice Lakwena, the prophet of Uganda. On the first of January 1985 I received the spirit," she explains. "In 1986 the Ugandan government went to my place, they were asking for me and I was not there and they gathered all the young boys and young girls of my age and took them and went and slaughtered⁴ them in Gulu."
 

Alice Lakwena, acclaimed⁵ prophet of Uganda in her residence in IFO camp, Dadaab  
  
In the 1980s, Alice Lakwena, whose name means 'messenger' in the Acholi language of northern Uganda, started her Holy Spirit Movement in the Acholi territory of northern Uganda, where warfare⁶ and political killings⁷ had ravaged⁸ society for nearly two decades.

Analysts⁹ believe the movement has its roots in dissatisfaction among the northern Acholi people, who were favored by the colonial British and subsequent regimes, but lost influence after Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, became president in 1986.

Alice claims to bring messages from the spiritual world advising people, even though unarmed, to oppose government intervention¹⁰ in Acholi territory.

She began a quasi-religious style of warfare, instructing soldiers to rub their chests with nut oil to immunize themselves against bullets, and sing Christian¹¹ hymns¹² as they marched into battle. Her forces scored some early victories, and reached the Bugembe forest, just 80 kilometers from Kampala, before they were crushed by President Museveni's National Resistance Army. In 1987, after the defeat, Alice fled to Kenya, where she remains¹³ today. 

Alice Lakwena resting in front of her altar    
  
Though her forces were vanquished¹⁴, grievances¹⁵ in the region remained and was tapped by Joseph Kony. Like her, Kony claimed spiritual powers. He was said to be in contact with a "spirit general staff", including a Chinese ghost who commanded an imaginary jeep battalion¹⁶.

At first, he enjoyed some popular support, but under him the rebellion has increasingly lost contact with its original ethnic¹⁷ power base. As support for the rebels has waned¹⁸ among the Acholis, many civilians¹⁹ in the north have joined self-defense militias²⁰, originally armed only with bows and arrows, to protect their villages from attack. The rebels reacted with fury to the establishment of these militias, regarding their members as "collaborators" who are punished with savage²¹ mutilation or death.

Kony has come to believe that only children are fitting recruits because their souls are "purer" than those of the Acholi adults who have "betrayed" him.

The strain between Kony and Alice Lakwena was apparent in this recent interview with VOA.

 
Joseph Kony (file photo)
  
"Why should he kill people for his own interests, what for?" she asks. "They started when I was not there, later when we were here in Kenya. I don't know anything about it, my work is to treat people and heal. These two groups are the same, even the government has abducted²² so many children because these two people are in problems, both sides."

Alice vows²³ to return to Uganda, but with one small caveat²⁴: She says President Yoweri Museveni must repay her after his government looted 3,000 cattle in her home town.

"We are discussing, I would like to go back home, I asked him to pay my cattle's. Yes! And he must pay me. And if he don't we fight because that is my own property," she says. "The Holy Spirit movement is not dead, it's alive. And we just don't surrender to anybody, I have no time for that, to surrender to Museveni, never will I. If he comes here for negotiations²⁵ we discuss."

If all goes well in the current peace negotiations between the Ugandan government and the LRA, Alice says she will go home and work to towards peace and unity²⁶ in her country.

1 disciple   

n.信徒，门徒，追随者

参考例句：

• Your disciple failed to welcome you.你的徒弟没能迎接你。
• He was an ardent disciple of Gandhi.他是甘地的忠实信徒。

2 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

3 resolute   

adj.坚决的，果敢的

参考例句：

• He was resolute in carrying out his plan.他坚决地实行他的计划。
• The Egyptians offered resolute resistance to the aggressors.埃及人对侵略者作出坚决的反抗。

4 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

6 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

7 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

8 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

9 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

10 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。

11 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

12 hymns   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At first, they played the hymns and marches familiar to them. 起初他们只吹奏自己熟悉的赞美诗和进行曲。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• I like singing hymns. 我喜欢唱圣歌。 来自辞典例句

13 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。

14 vanquished   

v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制

参考例句：

• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I vanquished her coldness with my assiduity. 我对她关心照顾从而消除了她的冷淡。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

17 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

18 waned   

v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• However,my enthusiasm waned.The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. 然而，我的热情减退了。我在做操上花的时间逐渐减少了。 来自《用法词典》
• The bicycle craze has waned. 自行车热已冷下去了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

19 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。

20 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

21 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

22 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

23 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

24 caveat   

n.警告； 防止误解的说明

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling.为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。
• As I have written before,that's quite a caveat.正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。

25 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。

26 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。