2007年VOA标准英语-Conflict in Somalia Deepens Suffering of Childr

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
12 January 2007

The U.N. Children's Fund and Save the Children are demanding that all children associated with armed forces or groups in Somalia must be immediately released from their ranks, or from detention¹ centers where they currently are being held.  The aid agencies say the suffering of Somali children and women has increased since the recent upsurge of fighting in the country.  Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

Transitional Federal Government soldiers in Bur Haqaba, south of Baidoa, Somalia, 28 Dec 2006

The aid agencies say children in Somalia are suffering from drought, flooding and now conflict.  They warn more children will be separated from their families, orphaned² and vulnerable to abuse and neglect unless the situation in this war-torn country is stabilized³.

Spokesman for the U.N. Children's Fund, Damien Personnaz, says his agency has received reports that many children below age 15 are being recruited as child soldiers.  He says all the warring factions⁴ are doing this.

"We also do know that a lot of children fighting for one of the parties in Somalia are being detained and are still detained," he said.  "And the third thing is that we do also know that a lot of children have been deliberately⁵ the targets of some nasty grenade attacks in IDP camps, internally displaced camps." 

Personnaz says it is hard to believe that children are being deliberately targeted.   But, he notes, there can be no other explanation since it is women and children who mainly live in the makeshift IDP camps.

"The people know that actually men are not in these IDP camps so the fact that they throw grenades into these camps from whatever side is part of the war strategy for all the parties," he added.  "So, they are deliberately targeting civilians⁶ and mostly women and children."

UNICEF and Save the Children say they are very disturbed by reports that Somali children and women are among the casualties of aerial bombardment in the southern part of the country.  They also are concerned that with the closure of Kenya's borders, the threats to fleeing Somalis have increased.

In fact, Personnaz says civilians are totally trapped within their own borders.

"They are trapped because bombardments prevent them to go to a safe place," he noted⁷.  "There is no safe corridors.  There is no safe-havens.  There is no safe place actually currently existing in Somalia-mostly in the South.  So, these people are the first victims of the current conflict.  This is not new again.  We are sorry to say that, but this is the reality." 

Personnaz says the conflict situation, plus the closure of the border with Kenya, is making it extremely difficult for humanitarian⁸ workers to reach vulnerable people with critically needed relief supplies.   He says aid agencies have to airlift supplies.   And this, he says, is extremely difficult, dangerous and very costly⁹.

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 orphaned   

[计][修]孤立

参考例句：

• Orphaned children were consigned to institutions. 孤儿都打发到了福利院。
• He was orphaned at an early age. 他幼年时便成了孤儿。

3 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 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

5 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

6 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。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。