VOA常速英语2007-Africans Dispute Australia's Reasons for Freezin

By Phil Mercer
Sydney
11 October 2007

African refugees in Australia are taking exception to a cabinet minister's remark that Africans are having trouble adjusting to the Australian way of life. Tens of thousands of Africans have made new lives in Australia, and many of them have integrated quite successfully. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

Africans have a rich history in Australia. In the last decade this diverse community has grown rapidly, due largely to an influx¹ of refugees from all corners of the African continent.

In recent years, Australia has accepted more refugees from Africa than anywhere else - about 70 percent of the country's total humanitarian² intake³. Most arrived from war-torn countries such as Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Liberia and Somalia.

Nigerian-born filmmaker and music producer Daniel Okuduwa has been doing business in Sydney for seven years. He sees himself as part of a cultural revolution.

"The African community [in Australia] is a beautiful community. It's an imaginative community," he said. "Most of us are in the universities. Some of them are working. Some are business owners. People like me, we are culturally… enriching the Australian community by bringing in parts of the African culture."

The Australian government begs to differ. It says many African refugees have not made the kind of effort or contribution that migrants such as Okuduwa have.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews says the Africans, especially those from Sudan, simply have not fit in.

"We do have a responsibility to the Australian community to ensure that when people come to Australia they're able to adequately settle in this country, and we have detected that there have been additional challenges in relation to some of the people that have come from Africa over the last few years," said Andrews.

As a result, the government has temporarily closed the door. No new asylum⁴ applications from Africa will be accepted until at least June of next year.

African community leaders such as Abeselom Nega, the chairman of the African Federation⁵ Communities Council, are furious at the change in policy. They accuse the government of trying to win the support of voters worried about rising immigration ahead of coming elections.

"It was disappointing. It was painful and I guess it was something that I have never expected to hear from a minister for immigration," said Nega. "I've lived for quite sometime in this country, so it was absolutely shocking and basically it's a great disappointment to myself and to the community."

Joffrey Mangwi Mugi's story - like that of many refugees - is characterized by great hardship, and then success.

Mugi is 30. He was born in Sudan but spent most of his early years in a camp in Uganda. He arrived in Sydney just over two years ago, and is now employed as a community worker.

This vibrant⁶, diligent⁷ young man does not match the government's view of Sudanese refugees.

"I believe I am very well settled. I am from a refugee camp, and I have a lot of white friends and I speak very good English and I am okay, and I believe there are a lot of other people who are like me," said Mugi. "In every community, of course, you really get people who sometimes contravene⁸ the law, whatever … but you cannot take that as a sample to measure for the rest of the other community."

African refugees have been accused of forming gangs, harassing⁹ women and committing crimes.

Community leaders admit that a small minority have behaved badly, but they insist that the majority has full respect for Australian laws and customs.

The public's views on the situation are mixed. Hanne Smee, a lunchtime shopper in Sydney, grew up in Australia but is originally from Denmark.

"I think they [the Africans] have settled as well as any other group does," said Smee. "They tend to stick together in one area but, I mean, they still have to interact with what we would term Australian society. But let's face it, basically all of Australia are migrants in some form or another."

 

Government critics fear that the moratorium¹⁰ on African refugees will continue indefinitely.

Tanneh from Liberia worries that she will not be able to bring relatives to join her in Sydney.

"If that is the case, if the government doesn't want any more Africans in this country - it's horrible, because we do have family back home and if we can't get our families joining us here, it's very hard," said Tanneh.

Australia's conservative prime minister, John Howard, says the freeze on African refugee intake is not racially motivated. He says his government has an obligation to ensure that newcomers became part of a cohesive¹¹ society.

The United Nations refugee agency has entered the debate. It says that those fleeing persecution¹² and war should be accepted for humanitarian reasons, rather than their ability to integrate.

1 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

2 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。

3 intake   

n.吸入，纳入；进气口，入口

参考例句：

• Reduce your salt intake.减少盐的摄入量。
• There was a horrified intake of breath from every child.所有的孩子都害怕地倒抽了一口凉气。

4 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

5 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

6 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

7 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

8 contravene   

v.违反，违背，反驳，反对

参考例句：

• The moves contravene the peace plan agreed by both sides.这些举措违反了双方同意的和平方案。
• He said the article did not contravene the industry's code of conduct.他说这一条款并未违反行业的行为准则。

9 harassing   

v.侵扰，骚扰( harass的现在分词 )；不断攻击（敌人）

参考例句：

• The court ordered him to stop harassing his ex-wife. 法庭命令他不得再骚扰前妻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was too close to be merely harassing fire. 打得这么近，不能完全是扰乱射击。 来自辞典例句

10 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

11 cohesive   

adj.有粘着力的；有结合力的；凝聚性的

参考例句：

• She sealed the parcel with cohesive tape.她用粘胶带把包裹封起来。
• The author skillfully fuses these fragments into a cohesive whole.作者将这些片断巧妙地结合成一个连贯的整体。

12 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。