2007年VOA标准英语-UNHCR Delivers Relief Supplies to Thousands of

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
13 April 2007

The U.N. refugee agency says trucks are now delivering relief supplies to some 20,000 people internally displaced in Somalia. The UNHCR says 28 tons of supplies were airlifted into southwestern Somalia this week from the agency's emergency stockpiles in the United Arab Emirates. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.

The U.N. refugee agency says trucks are now carrying the aid items southward to Afgooye, where thousands of Somalis came after fleeing from recent fighting in the Somali capital. Afgooye is 30 kilometers from Mogadishu.

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond says blankets, plastic sheets, and other supplies will be distributed to displaced families, mainly in Afgooye and the nearby town of Marka.

"Thousands of displaced Somalis have spent nearly two weeks without proper food, water or shelter and other aid items," said Redmond. 

"Families with no relatives or clan¹ links in the area continue to live in the open, many of them just under trees. The need for shelter material is now more pressing because the rainy season is normally beginning this month," he added. 

UNHCR spokesman Redmond says the agency has additional stocks for up to 5,000 families in Mogadishu and smaller quantities in Marka. But he says the dangerous security situation is making it difficult to get the items out of the warehouses².

maize3 provided by humanitarian4 agencies at the Kenyan-Somali border point of Liboi, 6 Jan 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070531/0935530.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Somali refugee children eating a portion of maize provided by humanitarian agencies at the Kenyan-Somali border point of Liboi, 06 Jan 2007

He says there are reports that several hundred people are making their way to Doble, a small Somali town at the Kenyan border. The UNHCR does not have access to Doble for security reasons. But private aid agencies there report a daily trickle⁵ of people from Mogadishu to the town.

They say Doble is hosting between 2,000-3,000 freshly displaced people. The agencies describe conditions as desperate. They say the health situation is deteriorating⁶, following reports of an outbreak of diarrhea last week.

Kenya closed its borders to refugees and asylum⁷ seekers in early January. Redmond says the UNHCR is urging the Kenyan authorities to reconsider this decision.

"We realize that governments have legitimate⁸ security concerns and other responsibilities for its national security," he said. "But we believe these concerns can be met, while at the same time ensuring that people who are in need of international protection can get it.

"And we are prepared to work with the Kenyan government to ensure that proper screening of new arrivals is carried out and that would enable us to ensure that asylum is only granted to genuine asylum seekers," Redmond continued. 

Kenya has said it is concerned that terrorists or people with links to al-Qaida might be among those Somalis seeking asylum.

The UNHCR estimates that nearly 130,000 Somalis may have fled from Mogadishu since early February. This is when clashes erupted between Ethiopian troops and rebels trying to overthrow⁹ the transitional government.

1 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

2 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

3 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

4 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。

5 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

6 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

7 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。

8 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

9 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。