2007年VOA标准英语-Ethiopia Orders Red Cross to Leave Ogaden Regio

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
25 July 2007

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is still trying to confirm media reports that the Ethiopian government has issued an order for the Red Cross to leave the restive¹ Ogaden region in eastern Ethiopia within one week.  VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi that tensions between the Ethiopian government and international humanitarian² groups that allege³ the Ethiopian military is blocking food aid to rebel-held areas in the Ogaden and committing war crimes there.

Ogaden National Liberation Front rebels (file photo)

The spokeswoman for the ICRC in London, Leila Blacking, tells VOA that the organization is in talks with Ethiopian officials to determine who issued the eviction⁴ order.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press said the vice⁵ president of the Ogaden region, Jama Ahmed, told the news agency that the government has ordered the Red Cross to leave the region within seven days because its workers were siding politically with local rebels.

The ICRC says it is unclear if the vice president was referring to an order issued by the regional government or the central government in Addis Ababa, which recently launched a military campaign in the country's volatile⁶ east to wipe out rebels belonging to the Ogaden National Liberation Front. 

"We are still in discussion with the central authorities.  So, until those discussions are over, we will not know what is happening," Blacking said.

Blacking says accusations⁷ that Red Cross workers in the Ogaden are collaborating⁸ with rebels are unfounded.  She strongly defended the work that they have been performing in the region for more than a decade.

"Our activities in that part of Ethiopia, in the Somali region, are water activities and some advice for veterinary," Blacking said.  "Because of the area we work in, sometimes that necessitates⁹ that we have contact with all different sides to the conflict.  When we are working in these remote, rural areas, you can come across anybody and you obviously have to deal with them to make sure that you get the access to where you need to go.  But certainly, that is always with complete neutrality and we work in full transparency."

Ethiopia's Ogaden region is a vast, oil-rich, but impoverished¹⁰ area, which shares a long and porous¹¹ border with Somalia.  Most of the people in the Ogaden are ethnic¹² Somalis, who support the rebels' 20-year-long fight for independence from Addis Ababa.

Addis Ababa says the ONLF rebels are terrorists funded by Ethiopia's arch rival in the Horn, Eritrea.  In April, the ONLF killed more than 70 people, mostly Ethiopian guards, during a raid on a Chinese-run oil field in the Ogaden.

In recent weeks, western diplomats¹³ and humanitarian organizations have severely¹⁴ criticized Ethiopia's nearly two-month-long crackdown against the Ogaden rebels - a campaign which they say has included blockading critical food shipments to hundreds of thousands of people. 

The U.N.'s World Food Program spokesman in Nairobi, Kenya, Peter Smerdon, says Ethiopia is allowing WFP to distribute food in three zones.  But he says restrictions¹⁵ on trade and movement are hampering¹⁶ food deliveries.

On Monday, the ONLF asked the United Nations to launch an investigation¹⁷ into reports that the Ethiopian military and its proxy¹⁸ militias¹⁹ are committing human right abuses against civilians²⁰ in the Ogaden.

1 restive   

adj.不安宁的，不安静的

参考例句：

• The government has done nothing to ease restrictions and manufacturers are growing restive.政府未采取任何措施放松出口限制,因此国内制造商变得焦虑不安。
• The audience grew restive.观众变得不耐烦了。

2 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。

3 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

4 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

7 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

8 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

9 necessitates   

使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The increase in population necessitates a greater food supply. 人口的增加需要更多食物供应。
• Your proposal necessitates borrowing money. 你的提议使借款成为必要。

10 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 porous   

adj.可渗透的，多孔的

参考例句：

• He added sand to the soil to make it more porous.他往土里掺沙子以提高渗水性能。
• The shell has to be slightly porous to enable oxygen to pass in.外壳不得不有些细小的孔以便能使氧气通过。

12 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。

13 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

15 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

16 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

17 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

18 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

19 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

20 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。