2007年VOA标准英语-East African Nations Creating Regional Peacekee

By Caroline Sawyer
Nairobi
17 August 2007

Defense¹ ministries² from across the East African region announced Friday that they are creating a new force to be used in peacekeeping missions as well as national emergencies.  As Caroline Sawyer reports from Nairobi, the defense ministers said that the force will be ready by 2010.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki Nairobi, Kenya, 01 June 2007

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki opened the defense ministers' council meeting in Nairobi with a call for financial support and troop contributions to a new stand-by force.   Mr. Kibaki said that troops should be available within three years to handle any crisis, from terrorist attacks to natural disasters, on the African continent.

The new force, to be called the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade (EASBRIG) has its headquarters in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, as well as a planning department in Kenya. Though exact numbers of soldiers have yet to be announced, military officials have said EASBRIG will be made up of five brigades.

munitions3 in Mogadishu, Somalia, 16 June 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070825/1059501.jpg" width="166" vspace="2" border="0" />

Africa Union soldiers secure the area where they prepare to destroy weapons and munitions in Mogadishu, Somalia, 16 June 2007

Officials of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a seven-country regional development organization in East Africa, say the new force is needed, because they are overwhelmed with demands for troops to be sent to war-torn areas on the continent, including Sudan's Darfur region, Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo.

The chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Defense and Security for the Eastern African Region, Ruth Nankabirwa Santamu, said that the force will help fill the growing demand for African soldiers in the region.

"This will save us from the situation we are in currently in Somalia, where member states have pledged troops, [but] because of some problems they have not honored their commitment," she said.  "So the establishment of the Eastern African stand-by brigade, will be on stand by to be called upon to deploy⁴ rapidly and save the situation."

The formation of the stand-by force in East Africa will mark the sixth such force on the African continent.  They are part of an effort by African countries to resolve their own conflicts, rather than rely on international forces from organizations such as the United Nations and European Union.

A total of 13 countries have already signed up to participate in the new force.  They are Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, Mauritius, Madagascar, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

3 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。

4 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。