2007年VOA标准英语-Ivorian President Attends Militia Disarmament C

By Selah Hennessy
Dakar
20 May 2007

President Laurent Gbagbo has attended a ceremony in western Ivory Coast to mark militia¹ disarmament. Experts say successful disarmament would be an important step in the country's peace process, but they also say there may be many weapons still in the region . Selah Hennessy reports from VOA's West Africa Bureau in Dakar.

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An Ivorian troop gathers guns handed back by West Resistance Armed Forces (FRGO)'s members during a ceremony for the dismantling of militias

Music played while militiamen rallied the crowd with messages of unity⁴ and peace in the Ivorian city of Guiglo.

A local journalist, Baudelaire Mieu, says thousands of people, including militiamen, government officials, UN peacekeepers, and local residents gathered to watch the ceremony.

Disarmament is central to a peace accord signed in March between rebels and the government. Under the agreement, rebel leader Guillaume Soro became prime minister.

But past attempts at disarmament have been unsuccessful, with militia groups failing to hand over all of their weapons, or demanding more money in return for complete disarmament.

Achille Tuya, an ex-militiaman, says this time disarmament will be complete. He says the militias fought brutal⁵ battles during the civil war that began in 2002, but now they want to rebuild the country and that is why they have agreed to hand over their weapons.

But Gilles Yabi, of Brussels-based International Crisis Group, says militia groups use their weapons for extortion and to gain power in the region, and he doubts they will all be willing to give that up.

He says the government must also decide who will receive so-called disarmament packages. They will probably include money and integration⁶ into the national service, in exchange for handing over weapons. "Now for the ex-militia men, I think there is just around 2,000 people who will be reintegrated who will have these reintegration packages. But militias will claim there are 12,000 people in the west who have been in the militia. So this problem has not really been resolved," he said.

Yabi said it will be difficult to completely rid the western region of weapons. "And that is why I think that the situation in the west will require very serious monitoring by impartial⁷ forces and not only by the Ivorian forces because now they do not have the capacity to maintain law and order in this region," he said.

Last week U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recommended that UN peacekeeping forces remain in Ivory Coast at least until the end of the year.

1 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

2 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

3 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

4 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

5 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

6 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

7 impartial   

adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的

参考例句：

• He gave an impartial view of the state of affairs in Ireland.他对爱尔兰的事态发表了公正的看法。
• Careers officers offer impartial advice to all pupils.就业指导员向所有学生提供公正无私的建议。