2006年VOA标准英语-Somali Leader Wants UN to Lift Arms Embargo

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
25 September 2006
 

		Ali Mohamed Gedi

The prime minister of Somalia's beleaguered¹ interim² government is urging the United Nations Security Council to act swiftly in lifting a 14-year-old arms embargo³ on Somalia, so that armed peacekeepers can be deployed⁴ to check the advance of radical⁵ Islamists. The prime minister's comments come in the wake of Sunday's takeover of the strategic port of Kismayo by Islamic forces. 

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Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi was in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi Monday, telling officials and reporters here that his country is in the grip of a radical Islamic movement, led by terrorists with links to al-Qaida.

"It is an expansion of fundamentalists, terrorists. It is affecting not only Somalia, but the whole region, the whole continent and the world as well," said Mr. Gedi.  "Unless collective efforts are brought together by the international community, this new phenomenon cannot be stopped. It is very serious. It is death and life."

Accusing Islamic extremists in Mogadishu of inviting⁶ foreign fighters to carry out the country's first-ever suicide attack in Baidoa last Monday, Mr. Gedi says the United Nations Security Council must act now and counter the Islamists' threat by paving the way for the deployment⁷ of a nearly 8,000-strong regional east African peacekeeping force. He also says the United Nations should end its arms embargo so government forces can meet the Islamic threat.

"They all must be unanimous to lift the arms embargo on Somalia in order to prepare and re-establish our national security forces, train them and equip them in order for them to protect Somali soil, the government and the people of Somalia," added Mr. Gedi.

In Mogadishu, officials with the Supreme⁸ Islamic Council of Somalia, who deny having terrorist ties, reiterated⁹ their opposition¹⁰ to the peacekeeping proposal. Late Sunday, the Islamic militia¹¹ took over the strategic southern port of Kismayo, in part to prevent the port from being used as a landing base for peacekeepers.

Kismayo, located about 500 kilometers south of the Somali capital, was taken peacefully from a factional leader, who fled as the Islamists advanced into the town. But on Monday, violence broke out after Islamist fighters burned the Somali flag and replaced it with the flag of Islam.

Several thousand angry locals poured out into the streets and rioted for several hours, throwing stones, burning tires, and shouting, "We do not want the Islamic courts." A 13 year-old boy was reportedly killed and several others wounded when Islamic militiamen opened fire on a crowd.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gedi would not comment on reports from the provincial¹² town of Baidoa, where the interim government is based, of several hundred more Ethiopian troops being sent there to help protect the fragile government from an Islamist attack.

Reports of Ethiopian troops in Somalia have circulated since June, when Islamists seized the capital from factional leaders and began extending their power rapidly throughout the country. Ethiopia, which strongly backs Somalia's secular¹³ government, has repeatedly denied its troops are in Somalia and accuses rival Eritrea of providing arms to Islamists.

The tense standoff between the Islamists and the transitional government has fueled fears that the conflict could turn into a wider regional war.

1 beleaguered   

adj.受到围困[围攻]的；包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词)；困扰；骚扰

参考例句：

• The beleaguered party leader was forced to resign. 那位饱受指责的政党领导人被迫辞职。
• We are beleaguered by problems. 我们被许多困难所困扰。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

3 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

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 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

6 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

7 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。

8 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

9 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

12 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

13 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。