2007年VOA标准英语-UN Says Atrocities Increasing in Eastern Congo

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
13 July 2007

The U.N. refugee agency is urging all armed parties in North Kivu province to stop the widespread pillaging¹ and atrocities² that are leading to a humanitarian³ disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UNHCR says the situation in this part of the country continues to deteriorate⁴. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.

The U.N. refugee agency is calling for an immediate⁵ halt to direct attacks on civilians⁷ as well as atrocities, including burning of villages, widespread pillaging and raping⁸ of women.

UNHCR spokeswoman, Jennifer Pagonis, says North Kivu is facing the worst displacement⁹ situation in three years because of the escalating¹⁰ violence. She says 163,000 people have been displaced since January. This brings the total of internally displaced people in the province to 650,000.

"We are very concerned about the spiraling displacement and atrocities in eastern DRC, particularly with the build-up of military forces, the situation there risks turning into a humanitarian and human rights disaster," said Pagonis.  "And we are concerned that fresh military operations by renegade brigades, militia¹¹ groups or government forces will result in greater suffering for the civilian⁶ population without leading to more stability."

On Friday, the UNHCR and the U.N. Children's Fund began distributing relief supplies to more than 10,000 internally displaced people in the Buganga area of the province.

Pagonis says people receiving the aid fled fighting in May. They are now living with host families. She says humanitarian agencies are finding it difficult to access the sites because of the worsening security situation.

"We are indeed in touch with the U.N. peacekeeping forces and when we realize that particularly some IDP [internally displaced persons] sites are in danger, they deploy¹² mobile units to them," said Pagonis. "But, it is a very dangerous area for humanitarian agencies to be operating. I do not think we have access to all the areas all of the time, and we work as we can. But it certainly is a major problem area."

Pagonis says host families are running out of resources to support themselves, let alone their homeless guests. As a result, more displaced people are living in hastily established camps.

She says the number of camp sites has expanded to nine. This, she says, is leaving people more exposed to disease and violence as the militarization of the area continues. She says the UNHCR has sent camp management experts to North Kivu to help improve living conditions.

1 pillaging   

v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The rebels went looting and pillaging. 叛乱者趁火打劫，掠夺财物。
• Soldiers went on a rampage, pillaging stores and shooting. 士兵们横冲直撞，洗劫商店并且开枪射击。 来自辞典例句

2 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 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。

4 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 raping   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的现在分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• In response, Charles VI sent a punitive expedition to Brittany, raping and killing the populace. 作为报复，查理六世派军讨伐布列塔尼，奸淫杀戮平民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The conquerors marched on, burning, killing, raping and plundering as they went. 征服者所到之处烧杀奸掠，无所不做。 来自互联网

9 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

10 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

11 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。

12 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。