VOA常速英语2007-Somalia's Transitional Government Cracks Down on

By Nick Wadhams
Nairobi
05 October 2007

Somalia's transitional government has launched a crackdown meant to counter insurgents¹ whose frequent attacks against government troops and Ethiopian forces have exacted a deadly toll² in recent weeks. Nick Wadhams has the story from Nairobi.

The government announced the crackdown on Thursday after a number of battles between insurgents and government forces in recent days. It is believed that a fire that destroyed a major market in the capital Mogadishu earlier this week was sparked by a battle.

Government officials say Mogadishu will be divided into zones, and troops will fan out to battle the insurgents. Ismael Hurreh Bubah is a Cabinet minister in the transitional government.

"The government definitely has every intention to bring back the full security to Mogadishu, and I am sure the security measures being now taken by the government are actually, you know, bearing fruit and we hope very soon Mogadishu will be back in a stable condition," he said.

Mogadishu experienced relative calm briefly³ last year, after groups affiliated⁴ with the Islamic Courts Union took control of the capital and some surrounding regions.

At the invitation of the embattled transitional government, Ethiopian troops moved in on Christmas eve and ousted⁶ the Islamic Courts leadership. But Ethiopian forces have been unable to prevent continuing attacks.

Humanitarian⁷ agencies say Somalia is witnessing a major humanitarian crisis because of the instability. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the capital and are suffering from the hardship including malnourishment.

The transitional government's enemies got a boost last month when they met in Eritrea and vowed⁸ to oust⁵ the government and Ethiopian troops by force if necessary.

Bubah says he believes those groups, which include some leaders from the Islamic Courts Union, are behind some of the recent violence.

"That's what their intention is," he said. "They have declared war on the transitional federal government and the governments of the Horn of Africa. I don't understand how they can achieve that, but I am sure they are intent on bringing havoc⁹ on not only Somalia but also the region itself."

On Friday, a Ugandan presidential envoy¹⁰ was in Mogadishu to try and broker¹¹ a peace deal between the warring sides.

Uganda is the only country so far to have contributed troops to an African Union peacekeeping mission for Somalia, and is also offering to train a police force.

1 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

5 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

6 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

7 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。

8 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

9 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

10 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

11 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。