2007年VOA标准英语-Nigeria, Cameroon Struggle to Redraw Border

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
25 January 2007

The Nigeria-Cameroon commission is meeting in the capital of Cameroon to help resolve a decades-old and, at times, violent border dispute that has become a drawn-out legal process. Phuong Tran reports from VOA's West Africa Bureau on the challenges both countries face as they delineate their new multi-million dollar boundary.

gendarmes1 march in to occupy Archibong, a disputed area of southern Bakassi Peninsula, Nigeria (File photo - 14 Aug 2006)" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070518/0818220.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Cameroon gendarmes march in to occupy Archibong, a disputed area of southern Bakassi Peninsula, Nigeria (File photo - 14 Aug 2006)

Five years ago, the Hague-based International Court of Justice decided² to give the Bakassi Peninsula and other contested border areas to Cameroon.

Last year, Nigeria gave Cameroon the peninsula, which offers access to offshore³ waters thought to hold oil reserves.

The United Nations court has painstakingly⁴ redrawn the boundaries between the two countries, which were blurred⁵ by colonial agreements.

Officials from both countries are negotiating how to implement⁶ the court's ruling. The negotiating body, known as the Nigeria-Cameroon Mixed Commission, is chaired by U.N. Special Representative for West Africa Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah.

"We have to demarcate about 1,700 kilometers. It is the largest demarcation process of current U.N. operations, more than Ethiopia-Eritrea, Iraq-Kuwait, East Timor-Indonesia combined," he said.

After more than a dozen meetings since the court's ruling, the group agreed on marking almost 500 kilometers of the new border. This leaves in question more than 1,000 kilometers that cross remote rain forests and a 3,000-meter high mountain range.

John Donaldson, a research associate at the British-based International Boundaries Research Unit, says this is a huge project.

"Often these areas are in the periphery⁷ of the state. There is very little transport infrastructure⁸. You have to bring out survey teams in order to survey the position of the pillars, [and] build the pillars out of reinforced concrete," he said.

Donaldson says the task is complicated by not only surveying remote regions, but also covering so much territory. His office helped with archive research for the International Court of Justice case that Cameroon originally brought against Nigeria in 1994.

"It was one of the most complicated boundary cases that the International Court of Justice had ever faced, because it entailed⁹ the full length of the boundary between the two states. In most cases, the dispute will only center on a section of the boundary," he added.

Donaldson says the issue also affects possible oil reserves.

"If you do not have a maritime¹⁰ boundary between two states and they have overlapping¹¹ claims, then sometimes oil companies will be reluctant to drill in those areas because there is a potential for dispute," he explained. "The sooner [the countries] can iron out the maritime boundary issue, the sooner they can award concessions¹²."

Commission Chairman Ould-Abdallah says access to water was also important.

"Wrongly or rightly it is seen with more prospect[s] for gas, oil and fisheries. It has become, in a way, symbolic¹³, part of a dispute between the two countries. [The issue] is sovereignty officially, but it is an increasingly an economic and resource issue," he said.

At meetings on Thursday and Friday, the commission is reviewing survey work from a visit last November by cartographers, armed with nautical¹⁴ charts and a mission to, essentially¹⁵, divide water.

Chairman Ould-Abdallah says that his group hopes to complete the demarcation process in about two years.

The project's budget is $12 million, of which roughly $8 million already has been raised from Cameroon, Nigeria and international donors¹⁶.

1 gendarmes   

n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Of course, the line of prisoners was guarded at all times by armed gendarmes. 当然，这一切都是在荷枪实弹的卫兵监视下进行的。 来自百科语句
• The three men were gendarmes;the other was Jean Valjean. 那三个人是警察，另一个就是冉阿让。 来自互联网

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

4 painstakingly   

adv. 费力地 苦心地

参考例句：

• Every aspect of the original has been closely studied and painstakingly reconstructed. 原作的每一细节都经过了仔细研究，费尽苦心才得以重现。
• The cause they contrived so painstakingly also ended in failure. 他们惨淡经营的事业也以失败而告终。

5 blurred   

v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离

参考例句：

• She suffered from dizziness and blurred vision. 她饱受头晕目眩之苦。
• Their lazy, blurred voices fell pleasantly on his ears. 他们那种慢吞吞、含糊不清的声音在他听起来却很悦耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

7 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 entailed   

使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需

参考例句：

• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son. 城堡和土地限定由长子继承。
• The house and estate are entailed on the eldest daughter. 这所房子和地产限定由长女继承。

10 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

11 overlapping   

adj./n.交迭（的）

参考例句：

• There is no overlapping question between the two courses. 这两门课程之间不存在重叠的问题。
• A trimetrogon strip is composed of three rows of overlapping. 三镜头摄影航线为三排重迭的象片所组成。

12 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

13 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

14 nautical   

adj.海上的，航海的，船员的

参考例句：

• A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
• It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》