VOA常速英语2007年-Rights Group Accuses Sudan, Eritrea of Deportin

By Nick Wadhams
Nairobi
10 December 2007

An Eritrean human rights group is accusing the governments of Sudan and Eritrea of working together to round up and deport¹ Eritreans who have sought refuge from Eritrea's authoritarian² government. Nick Wadhams has the story from Nairobi.

The Netherlands-based Eritrean Research and Documentation Center says Eritrean security forces are illegally monitoring Eritrean refugees, many of whom it says defected from the Eritrean Air Defense³ forces.

In a letter to the U.N. High Commissioner⁴ for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, the group says Sudan has allowed Eritrean intelligence agents to kidnap some of the refugees and return them to Eritrea. It listed 22 people with refugee status who it said were in imminent⁵ danger, and one may have already been deported⁶.

Negasi Tsegai is the secretary general of the Eritrean Research and Documentation Center. He was once an Eritrean government official but fled five years ago after he was imprisoned⁷ for opposing the policies of President Isaias Afwerki.

He says his group has sources deep within the Eritrean government, and that the country's intelligence agents kidnap political refugees around the world.

"We work inside the government because our source is on the ground of the Eritrean government," said Tsegai.  "The sources are told for us the Eritrean government to kidnap these people in Sudan. The Eritrean government not only kidnap in Sudan. The Eritrean security, we see them inside Eritrea and outside Eritrea.

Spokesmen for the Eritrean and Sudanese governments did not return phone calls seeking comment about the case. But if the allegation is true, it would not be the first time that Sudan has been accused of forcibly returning refugees back to their home countries in violation⁸ of international law.

In October, the U.N. Refugee Agency filed a protest after it learned that Sudan had handed over 15 Ethiopian refugees to Ethiopian authorities. UNHCR said the 15 refugees have been arrested by Sudanese security forces in July.

The UNHCR spokeswoman in Sudan, Fatoumata Kaba, said her office was investigating the claims spelled out in the latest letter but that she could not comment on individual refugee cases.

There are about 134,000 Eritrean refugees in Sudan, some living in miserable⁹ conditions. Most fled their nation's successive wars with Ethiopia over the last 30 years. Many say they are fearful of returning because of the increasingly authoritarian policies imposed by Mr. Afwerki since the most recent border war ended in 2000.

1 deport   

vt.驱逐出境

参考例句：

• We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
• More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。

2 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

5 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

6 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

8 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

9 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。