VOA常速英语2007年-Allegations of Media Rights Violations Angers E

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
06 December 2007

Eritrea's government has responded angrily to an appeal by a Paris-based media watchdog, urging the European Union to declare Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki persona non grata for violating human rights and restricting media freedom in the Horn of African country.  VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu has the story from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.

In a telephone interview with VOA, Eritrea's Acting¹ Information Minister Ali Abdu said his government is not concerned about the accusations² by the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders.  He called the group "a tool used by foreign governments opposed to Eritrea to spread false information."

"They are simply an agent of intelligence organizations with a hidden agenda," he said.  "They are not in a position to tell what should we do and what should we not do.   They are simply trash."

The Eritrean president is expected to attend a two-day European Union-Africa summit that begins Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal.

Reporters Without Borders says the European Union should bar President Issaias and his aides, including Information Minister Abdu, from entering Europe as punishment for showing what the organization calls "contempt" for agreements they signed with the European Union earlier this year.

In May, the European Union gave Eritrea $179 million in financial aid in exchange for the government's promise to ease media restrictions³ and improve the country's human rights record.
 
Reporters Without Borders says since the Eritrean government launched a media crackdown in 2001, it has shown no willingness to respect human rights or the rule of law. 

The organization says more than a dozen Eritrean journalists arrested six years ago are still being held in secret locations without any contact with the outside world.  Four of the journalists have reportedly died in prison camps where conditions are said to be appalling⁴.

On Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders chose jailed Eritrean journalist Seyoum Tsehaye as Journalist of the Year to highlight what it termed the catastrophic state of press freedom in that country.
 
The Eritrean government has repeatedly accused the media watchdog of meddling⁵ in its internal affairs. 

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

5 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句