2007年VOA标准英语-Mali Pledges Assistance to Taureg Minority

By Selah Hennessy
Dakar
24 September 2007

As part of a peace deal with militant¹ ethnic² Tuaregs in northern Mali, the country's government has pledged $2 million towards development. Analysts⁴ say long-awaited diplomacy⁵ and development aid is crucial in both Mali and Niger, where the Tuareg have waged a relentless⁶ campaign against army forces in recent months. Selah Hennessy reports from the VOA West Africa bureau in Dakar.

In an address to the nation, Mali's president Amadou Toumani Toure calls for a regional conference to address security in the Sahel region, which borders the Sahara desert across northern Africa.

In recent weeks, a series of raids by militant fighters against military targets in Mali's remote north has re-instigated a long-standing conflict between the ethnic Tuareg and the state.

Mali's conflict has been mirrored in neighboring Niger, where the militant group Niger Movement for Justice has waged a bloody⁷ campaign against the Nigerien army since February. The Niger government says the group has killed more than 40 soldiers and abducted⁸ dozens more.

In response, the Nigerien government has declared a three-month state of alert that, according to Amnesty International, has resulted in the arbitrary arrest and torture of civilians⁹.

Seydou Kaocen Maiga, a spokesman for the Niger Movement for Justice, says Niger's government is refusing to negotiate a peace deal with the militant group. "They are taking our resources and we have not [the] right to talk with the government because the government is an anti-democratic one," he said.

Niger's government, like Mali's, says the fighters are bandits who use violence to dominate drug smuggling¹⁰ routes in the region.

Maiga says these accusations¹¹ are unfounded. "We are not the traffickers of drugs or a bandit army. We are a movement of Nigeriens who struggle for justice," he said.

Following violent Tuareg rebellions in Mali and Niger during the 1990s, peace accords were signed in both countries. The Tuareg, who said they had been neglected and marginalized by the darker-skinned peoples of the southern Sahel, were promised political inclusion and further development for their regions.

Analyst³ David Zounmenou from the Pretoria-based South African Institute for Security Studies says consecutive¹² Nigerien governments have failed to fulfill¹³ the promises made in the 1995 peace deal. He says Niger's president Mamadou Tandja is refusing to engage diplomatically with the Tuareg.

"[We are] looking at a government that is first refusing to recognize that there is a problem, a rebellion in the country and two, refusing to engage in negotiations¹⁴ with those rebels who are considered bandits," he said.

He says Niger's Tuareg are still fighting the same social, political, and especially economic battles they fought a decade ago.

Tuareg say local communities in the north have seen none of the profits made through large foreign mining endeavors in the region. Niger holds one of the world's largest supplies of uranium, but unemployment is rife¹⁵, food is often scarce, and according to the Human Development Index the country is one of the least developed in the world.

Niger's government says it does not have the resources to meet the demands made by the Tuareg.

Zounmenou says Tuareg in Mali have many of the same economic and social concerns as their Nigerien counterparts. But he says Mali 's government has addressed some of the demands made by the Tuaregs during the 1990s. "You see the Malian government trying to incorporate dignitaries from northern Mali into the government - they have representatives in the parliament, they have a say in the political decisions of the country," he said.

He says the choice not to negotiate may mean Niger's conflict will escalate¹⁶. "The situation in Niger is more critical then the one that we are seeing in Mali because the rebels have already decided¹⁷ to end hostilities¹⁸ and to enter discussion with the government. While in Niger we still do not know what is going to happen," he said.

Jeremy Keenan, a British anthropologist¹⁹ who has worked in the Saharan region for the past 40 years, says added to the social and political grievances²⁰ of the Tuareg, the over-arching problem in both Niger and Mali is what he calls American propaganda in the region. "Right across this part of the Sahara is the sense of injustice²¹, the sense of anger largely at the intervention²² of America in the region, in this so-called war on terror," he said.

The U.S. provides Mali's government with military and financial support through the multi-million-dollar U.S. Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Initiative. The American government says the Sahara, isolated²³ and awash with arms and unemployed²⁴ youth, is a breeding ground for religious extremism.

U.S. military officials says the Algerian-based group now calling itself al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb is active in Mali and has held training camps in Niger.

But Keenan says there are no Islamists in the Tuareg rebellion. "[In] both of these rebellions you have not got a single Islamist within 500 miles. So what these rebellions have done is really to show up the propaganda that has been underpinning²⁵ or underlining this so-called war on terror in the region," he said

He says the recent unrest broke out in Mali because the Tuareg are resentful of U.S. military training, which he says helps the government repress the Tuareg opposition²⁶.

Tuareg are nomadic²⁷ Berbers who have lived as traders in the Sahara and Sahel for hundreds of years.

Tuareg men are recognizable by indigo²⁸ turbans that cover most of their face and shield them from an extreme climate, with violent sandstorms and temperatures that vary from up to 48 degrees to below freezing in the cool season.

About two million Tuareg live in West Africa, straddled between Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Algeria, and Libya.

1 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

2 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。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

5 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

6 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

7 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

8 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

9 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。

10 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

11 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。

12 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

13 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

14 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。

15 rife   

adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的

参考例句：

• Disease is rife in the area.疾病在这一区很流行。
• Corruption was rife before the election.选举之前腐败盛行。

16 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

17 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

18 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

19 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

20 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

22 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

23 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

24 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

25 underpinning   

n.基础材料；基础结构；（学说、理论等的）基础；（人的）腿v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的现在分词 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• Underpinning this success has been an exemplary record of innovation. 具有典范性的创新确保了这次成功。 来自辞典例句
• But underpinning Mr Armstrong's technology changes is a human touch. 但阿姆斯特朗技术变革的支柱是人情味。 来自互联网

26 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

27 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

28 indigo   

n.靛青，靛蓝

参考例句：

• The sky was indigo blue,and a great many stars were shining.天空一片深蓝，闪烁着点点繁星。
• He slipped into an indigo tank.他滑落到蓝靛桶中。