2007年VOA标准英语-Darfur Peace Talks Falter Before They Begin

By Nick Wadhams
Nairobi
03 August 2007

Negotiations¹ aimed at resolving Sudan's brutal² Darfur conflict faltered³ before they began on Friday after a leading rebel groups refused to participate. As Nick Wadhams reports from our East Africa bureau in Nairobi, the boycott⁴ raises new doubts about prospects⁵ for peace in Darfur.

The talks in Arusha, Tanzania are meant to unite Darfur's various rebel factions⁶ and were initially⁷ seen as a positive and crucial step. They come just days after the U.N. Security Council passed a landmark⁸ resolution authorizing⁹ the deployment¹⁰ of 26,000 peacekeepers to Darfur.

But the start of the talks was delayed Friday because some rebel groups had not arrived. And already, hopes that the rebels would take advantage of the momentum¹¹ provided by the resolution seem lost.

About a dozen rebel factions are taking part in the talks, but one important group is absent - the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Abdelwahid al-Nur. His group argues that it is pointless to talk politics while violence continues.

SLM spokesman Yahia Bolad says al-Nur will not make the same mistake he made in 2006, when he agreed to a peace proposal after months of talks in Abuja, Nigeria, that amounted to nothing.

"The result is that weak Abuja agreement and the government continues killing¹² our people. The humanitarian¹³ issue became more worse than ever. For that reason we need to suspend the conflict," he said. "So the matter is not issuing resolutions, the matter is how to implement¹⁴ these resolutions and that's what we're waiting for. When we see U.N. troops on the ground we will start the political process steps."

Al-Nur is one of the Darfur rebellion's founding fathers and a member of Sudan's largest tribe, the Fur. He is popular among many of the 2.5 million people who have been displaced by the Darfur fighting. Some 200,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2003.

Without his participation¹⁵ it seems unlikely that the three days of talks in Arusha will result in serious progress. The negotiations are being sponsored by the African Union and the United Nations.

The Sudanese government is not participating in the talks. But foreign ministry¹⁶ spokesman Ali Sadiq Ali says he believes a successful conclusion of the talks in Arusha could lead immediately to new negotiations with the government.

"I don't think it will be a failure," he said. "If they are agreed on a common position I think the next step will be to name the place and the time of the first talks so that the process will start from there on."

The various rebel factions are also calling for the release of the humanitarian coordinator¹⁷ of the Sudan Liberation Army, Suleiman Jammous. The factions believe that Jammous could help jump-start the limited relief work in Darfur and could also help unite the various rebels.

Jammous has been in a U.N. hospital near Darfur for more than a year and the Khartoum government says he will be arrested if he tries to leave.

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

3 faltered   

（嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃

参考例句：

• He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
• "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着：“这孩子脑袋真长。”

4 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

5 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

6 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

7 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

8 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

9 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

10 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。

11 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

12 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

13 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。

14 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

15 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

16 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。

17 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？