VOA标准英语2008年-Youths in Guinea Riot After President Dismisses

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
04 January 2008

Angry youth in Guinea have taken to the streets in the capital Conakry, burning tires and building barricades¹, after the president fired the communications minister. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from our West Africa bureau in Dakar.

Black smoke rose over Conakry, while shops in the main Madina market closed down. Angry young men ran through the streets carrying stones and brandishing² pieces of wood. They said they would not accept the president's decision to dismiss a minister without consulting the prime minister.

The dismissal and protests follow a controversial new year's message signed by long-standing President Lansana Conte and posted on the website of Guinea's state news agency.

It said the government of Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate has been a disappointment in many areas, and that Guinea needs to shape up in its 50th year after independence.

The now-fired communications minister, Justin Morel Junior, a close Kouyate ally, responded to the new year's message by reading a statement on state television, saying the words attributed to the president were written by extremists "nostalgic for a past that no longer exists."

Junior was fired Thursday by presidential decree and replaced by Issa Conde, until now the director of Guinea's national press agency.

In December, President Conte signed a decree giving more control within the government to one of his closest allies, the presidency³ secretary-general, Sam Mamadi Soumah.

A regional analyst⁴ with Brussels-based Crisis Group, Gilles Yabi, says Mr. Kouyate's power is quickly diminishing.

"This is really the responsibility of the prime minister to coordinate⁵ the activity of the government, so from early December, it was very clear that we have seen a kind of shifting of power from Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate to President Lansana Conte again," said Yabi. "Of course, we can expect some reaction from the population and the civil society and perhaps the trade unions, after these signs of President Lansana Conte regaining⁶ full power after the events of January and February 2006."

Mr. Kouyate was named prime minister with expanded powers last year after violent union-led protests demanded that President Conte reduce prices on staple⁷ goods, improve services and reduce his control of the government.

Yabi says the current crisis comes as Mr. Kouyate was finally starting to bring improvement to the daily lives of Guineans, after a slow start where he spent most of his time abroad looking for aid.

"There has been some clear improvement in social services, water, electricity, and all these issues were really the core reason of the general strike and the massive demonstrations⁸ last year," said Yabi.

"So now we have a kind of mixed evaluation⁹ of the performance of Kouyate's government. Clearly, we cannot talk about real revolution, a kind of real break from Conte's system, but this is also due to the fact Prime Minister Kouyate did not have full powers and he has to get the approval and the signature of President Conte for all decrees," he added.

The chain-smoking, diabetic President Conte, who can barely walk, has been in power since a coup¹⁰ in 1984, followed by successive elections, deemed by the opposition¹¹ and foreign observers as fraudulent.

New legislative¹² polls are due this year.

1 barricades   

路障，障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
• Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。

2 brandishing   

v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀

参考例句：

• The horseman came up to Robin Hood, brandishing his sword. 那个骑士挥舞着剑，来到罗宾汉面前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He appeared in the lounge brandishing a knife. 他挥舞着一把小刀，出现在休息室里。 来自辞典例句

3 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

4 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。

5 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

6 regaining   

复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• She was regaining consciousness now, but the fear was coming with her. 现在她正在恢发她的知觉，但是恐怖也就伴随着来了。
• She said briefly, regaining her will with a click. 她干脆地答道，又马上重新振作起精神来。

7 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

8 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

9 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

10 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

11 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。

12 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。