2007年VOA标准英语-Somalis Skeptical of Peace 'Under Occupation'

By Alisha Ryu
Mogadishu
14 June 2007

One day after Somalia's interim¹ government postponed² a national reconciliation³ conference for the third time in three months, some residents of Mogadishu are expressing doubt the conference can be held while Ethiopian troops are in the country. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu in Mogadishu reports that a late-night gun battle Wednesday between Ethiopian troops and insurgents⁴ in south Mogadishu has caused more people to flee their homes.

Just hours after Somalia's national reconciliation committee announced a month-long delay in peace talks, insurgents in the capital demonstrated why bringing Somalis together is proving to be a struggle for the interim government.

Ethiopian troops patrol the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, 4 June 2007

An unknown number of insurgents simultaneously⁵ attacked at least three Ethiopian positions in south Mogadishu with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. The Ethiopians returned fire, sparking an intense half-hour battle in the streets.

Some homes around the area appeared to have been abandoned overnight. Residents tell VOA that some people, who returned to their homes in recent weeks, have fled the city again, fearing the start of another round of fighting.

An Ethiopia-led security sweep of the city in March and April killed more than 1,500 people and displaced nearly a fifth of Mogadishu's two million residents.

Ali Mohamed Hussein, 42, works as a private security guard in south Mogadishu. He says most insurgents, including Islamist fighters, are Somalis who belong to the locally-dominant Hawiye clan⁶.

Hussein says many clan members oppose the government because it is being protected by Ethiopian troops and is forcing Somalis to live under an occupying force. He says the government has also shown little willingness to reconcile with its perceived enemies.

Hole left by an Ethiopian tank shell in a Mogadishu building (May 2007)

Hussein says Wednesday's violence shows there is still no peace or stability in the city. He says he does not believe the government can hold a reconciliation conference while some Hawiyes, such as the Islamists, are excluded from the talks and Ethiopians are still in the country.

In another part of the city, truck driver Hassan Abdi Farah, 20, predicts the conference will be postponed indefinitely.

Farah says he is certain the peace talks will not take place in the near future because even the Hawiye clan is divided and unable to agree on anything. He says he believes the only way to bring peace to the country is for the elders of the sub-clans to unite and for Ethiopians to leave Somalia immediately.

Ethiopia says it does not want its troops to stay in Somalia, but that it cannot leave before a full force of African Union peacekeepers replaces its soldiers.

The African Union has committed to sending 8,000 troops, but so far it has only 1,400 troops from Uganda on the ground in the Somali capital.

1 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

2 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

3 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

4 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

5 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

6 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。