2007年VOA标准英语-Sudanese Government Holds Talks on Darfur Peace

By Katy Migiro
Nairobi
11 June 2007

Sudananese officials are discussing the deployment¹ of a peacekeeping force in the troubled Darfur region with United Nations and African Union representatives in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Katy Migiro reports for VOA that one of the main sticking points is whether the majority of troops in the new force will be from AU or U.N. forces.

The two-day meeting in the African Union headquarters is aimed at ironing out the details of a proposal made last November for a hybrid² African Union - United Nations force for Darfur.

Sudan has agreed, in principle, to allow the United Nations to strengthen the AU peacekeeping force in Darfur, boosting its numbers from 7,000 to 23,000 troops.

The main issue being discussed in Addis Ababa is command and control of the joint³ force - an experiment which has never been tried before.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, left, talks during press conference with Sudanese counterpart Lam Akol in Khartoum, 11 Jun 2007

Sudanese Foreign Affairs Ministry⁴ Ali Sadiq Ali said he does not see there being any major problems because Khartoum has already agreed to the deployment of the hybrid force.

"People might recall that in November 2006 even then a meeting has taken place in the Ethiopian capital and the outline of this phase has been accepted by all, including the government of Sudan," he said.

But Mariam Jooma, an analyst⁵ of Sudanese affairs at the Institute of Strategic Studies in South Africa says she does not see any quick results coming out of this week's tripartite talks.

"I am not optimistic as to the progress of these talks," she said. "Simply because I think the disjuncture between the African Union and United Nations is far too significant at the moment for there to be a cohesive⁶ position taken by international community. The Sudanese authorities can easily take leverage⁷ from the lack of cohesion⁸ between AU and U.N."

The Sudanese government wants the U.N. role to be limited to logistics, with African troops and an African commander. Anything else, Khartoum says, would be like a western invasion of Sudan.

The United Nations has agreed to an African-force commander. But there are questions about how realistic Khartoum's desire for a majority African peacekeeping force is, given the limited number of AU troops available.

Jooma is also critical of what she describes as megaphone diplomacy⁹ - referring to the threats of sanctions being made in an effort to pressure Sudan to agree to U.N. proposals.

She is hopeful the involvement of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, which has set up a Darfur task force, could help bridge the gap between the warring factions¹⁰. The SPLM signed a peace deal with Khartoum in 2005, ending decades of war in south Sudan.

The conflict in Darfur, in western Sudan, broke out in 2003. Its origins are similar to the conflict in south Sudan, in which rebels took up arms in protest to the centralization of power in the hands of the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

1 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

2 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

6 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。

7 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

8 cohesion   

n.团结，凝结力

参考例句：

• I had to bring some cohesion into the company.我得使整个公司恢复凝聚力。
• The power of culture is deeply rooted in the vitality,creativity and cohesion of a nation. 文化的力量，深深熔铸在民族的生命力、创造力和凝聚力之中。

9 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

10 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别