VOA常速英语2008年-UN Chief Seeks Way Out of Kenya's Post-Election

By Nick Wadhams
Nairobi
01 February 2008

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon touched down in Kenya on Friday for talks with Kenya's opposition¹ leader in a bid to keep the country's post-election chaos² from descending³ into a wider ethnic⁴ war.   At least four more people were killed by police during ongoing⁵ protests.  Nick Wadhams has the story from Nairobi.

Kenya was tense a day after a second opposition lawmaker was slain⁶ within the space of three days. In the western city of Kisumu, which has seen some of the worst violence since Kenya's Dec. 27 vote, police fired on people protesting the death of lawmaker David Too.  Fresh protests also broke out in the Rift⁷ Valley town of Eldoret, an opposition stronghold.

Speaking to reporters in Nairobi, Mr. Ban said he was "reasonably encouraged" that Kenyan leaders have the will to solve the crisis, which has killed at least 850 people and displaced more than 250,000. He said the violence has done serious damage to Kenya's economy and its image.

"All international community, the whole world is watching you, the future is on your shoulders," he said.  "I am deeply concerned about this situation, and the number of deaths is just intolerable and unacceptable in this modern world. This must stop, this is up to the Kenyan people. You must act according to all established practices in the modern world."

With President Mwai Kibaki in Addis Ababa for an African Union summit, negotiators from the government and opposition met for the second day to try and break the political deadlock⁸. Opposition leader Raila Odinga has insisted on a new vote to determine the winner of Kenya's presidency⁹, but Mr. Kibaki refuses to negotiate on his victory.  He says Mr. Odinga should take his complaint to court.

Mr. Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement, ODM, insists the December 27 vote was flawed, and many international observers have reported irregularities in the vote count. There have been fears that the violence, initially¹⁰ characterized as an outburst of rage over the conduct of the election, has now devolved into tribal¹¹ attacks and possibly even ethnic cleansing¹².

Tensions in Kenya have heightened in recent days with the killings¹⁴ of two lawmakers from Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement.

After his meeting with Mr. Ban, Mr. Odinga insisted that the government accept a U.S. offer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation¹⁵ to help conduct an inquiry¹⁶ into the slaying¹⁷ of Mugabe Were, an ODM lawmaker slain on Tuesday. Mr. Odinga has described Were's killing¹³ as a political assassination¹⁸.

"We are demanding that the government should take up this offer if they really want people to believe that they want to get to the root cause of this matter," he said.  "The police are themselves complicit, police are compromised, they are part of the problem. They cannot be relied upon to carry out an investigation. We want an independent agency to be allowed to carry out this investigation."

Mr. Odinga has also accused the government of playing a role in the slaying of the second lawmaker, David Too. Police have described Too's slaying by a police officer in Eldoret as a crime of passion. Too was killed along with a woman who was the girlfriend of the policeman who gunned them down.

1 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。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

4 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。

5 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

6 slain   

杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词)

参考例句：

• The soldiers slain in the battle were burried that night. 在那天夜晚埋葬了在战斗中牺牲了的战士。
• His boy was dead, slain by the hand of the false Amulius. 他的儿子被奸诈的阿缪利乌斯杀死了。

7 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

8 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

9 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。

10 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。

11 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

12 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

13 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。

14 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

15 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。

16 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

17 slaying   

杀戮。

参考例句：

• The man mimed the slaying of an enemy. 此人比手划脚地表演砍死一个敌人的情况。
• He is suspected of having been an accomplice in the slaying,butthey can't pin it on him. 他有嫌疑曾参与该杀人案，但他们找不到证据来指控他。

18 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。