2007年VOA标准英语-US Ambassador to Nepal Says Maoists Biggest Thr

By Liam Cochrane
Kathmandu
09 July 2007

The U.S. ambassador to Nepal says the Maoist party remains¹ the biggest threat to holding peaceful elections in November. He says the Maoists are still considering violence as a way to gain absolute control of Nepal if elections and a role in the government do not deliver power. Liam Cochrane reports from Kathmandu.

James Moriarty

Ambassador James Moriarty says Nepal's peace process faces two huge challenges.

Moriarty, who leaves Nepal this week after three years, told journalists the most serious threat to holding peaceful elections in November is the behavior of the former rebel Maoists.

"In fact if you look at their actions and their words closely, you would have to say that their intentions are not benign," he said. "They continue to use violence. They continue to threaten the process itself if they do not get everything that they want; and everything that they want is power, absolute power, not part of a multi-party democracy."

Nepalese Maoist rebels train at a camp in Makwanpur, south of Kathmandu (File)

He says the Maoist party faces an ideological² split, with chairman Prachanda and second-in-charge Baburam Bhattari wanting to use a place in the government as a platform for taking full power, while applying pressure through their youth militia³, the Young Communist League. The other tactic⁴, supported by hard-line military commanders, is that the Maoists should take advantage of their current strength and seize control through confrontation⁵.

"In other words, one strategy says eat away at the government's will and have them hand you power, the other strategy says, 'No use the hammer, collapse⁶ the government's will'."

Moriarty says the Maoists are willing to use as much violence as necessary to achieve "absolute power" in Nepal.

The other major challenge to constituent⁷ assembly elections in November is ethnic⁸ tensions, particularly from the Madheshis community in southern Nepal, bordering India.

He says if rising militancy⁹ in the south is not addressed, there will be no chance of holding elections for a body to rewrite Nepal's constitution.

The United States has been a vocal¹⁰ critic of the Maoists and has been itself criticized for giving too much support to King Gyanendra after he seized control of the country in 2005.

After weeks of increasing street protests, the king was forced to give up power last year, and an interim¹¹ multi-party government took over. The interim government invited the Maoist rebels to join it, and began a peace process to end the rebels' decade-long violent insurgency¹².

Moriarty says his biggest regret is trusting the king for too long once he took power.

"Basically, it looked to me he had no plan at all," the ambassador said. "He just wanted to grab power and figure out what to do with it later on and he never figured out what to do with it."

Moriarty said King Gyanendra also refused to listen to advice contrary to his wishes. He says the king's actions ultimately led to the 2006 uprising that forced him from power and gave a role in government to the rebels.

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

3 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。

4 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

5 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

6 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

7 constituent   

n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的

参考例句：

• Sugar is the main constituent of candy.食糖是糖果的主要成分。
• Fibre is a natural constituent of a healthy diet.纤维是健康饮食的天然组成部分。

8 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

9 militancy   

n.warlike behavior or tendency

参考例句：

• Full of militancy and revolutionary ardour, the people of all nationalities in the country are working hard for the realization of the four modernizations. 全国各族人民意气风发， 斗志昂扬，为实现四个现代化而奋战。
• The seniority system is another factor that leads to union militancy. 排资论辈制度也是导致工会好斗争的另一因素。

10 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

11 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。

12 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网