VOA常速英语2008年-Relief Groups Warn of Worsening Humanitarian Si

By Derek Kilner
Nairobi
26 March 2008

A total of 40 international humanitarian¹ organizations have issued a statement warning of the worsening humanitarian situation in Somalia and appealing for increased attention from the international community. The appeal comes ahead of a planned discussion of Somalia by United Nations Security Council members.  Derek Kilner has more from Nairobi.

The agencies, which include Oxfam, Save the Children, and Care, say more than 1 million people are displaced in Somalia, with 20,000 more fleeing the capital, Mogadishu, every month.

The United Nations has called Somalia the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, worse than in the higher-profile Sudanese Darfur region.  The U.N. humanitarian office has said that the access that relief agencies have to the country's population has never been as restricted as it is today.

Verity² Johnson, regional policy and advocacy coordinator³ for Oxfam's Nairobi office, described the challenges aid groups face in Somalia.

"There's general insecurity," she said. "There are administrative⁴ delays.  There's restrictions⁵ or delays in movement of goods.  But, in particular in the last couple of months, we've seen targeting of humanitarian workers and their assets, looting of aid, carjackings, piracy⁶, roadblocks.  All of these lead into an environment which makes it very difficult for aid agencies to do their job."

The aid groups are calling on the international community to step up its response in Somalia by putting more effort into reaching a political agreement and improving security conditions for humanitarian operations.
   
"As aid agencies, what we do is try to help people in need and what we're trying to bring attention to is the fact that we're unable to do that in the current circumstances," she added.  "So we're calling on those with the power to address that situation to engage more to allow us to do our job."

Members of the U.N. Security Council are set to discuss Somalia this week.  In a report delivered to the council last week, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon raised the possibility of deploying⁷ a peacekeeping force of as many as 27,000 soldiers.  But the report acknowledged such a move would require a peace agreement of some sort and the deployment⁸ of a smaller interim⁹ international force to replace the Ethiopian troops currently in the country.

The current African Union force - with 2,600 peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi - is widely seen as inadequate¹⁰ to control the violence.

Ethiopian troops backing the Somalia's Transitional Federal Government have been battling a growing Islamist insurgency¹¹ based in Mogadishu since January 2007.  The government and Ethiopians ousted¹² the Islamic Courts Union from control of the capital in December 2006.  However, they have been unable to enforce security and opposition¹³ to the Ethiopian presence has grown.

At least six people were killed in the latest round of fighting in the southern town, Jowhar, near Mogadishu, Wednesday.

The aid agencies also warn the threat of food and water shortages is only likely to increase in the coming months, with the rainfall that usually comes between April and June expected to fall this year.

1 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。

2 verity   

n.真实性

参考例句：

• Human's mission lies in exploring verity bravely.人的天职在勇于探索真理。
• How to guarantee the verity of the financial information disclosed by listed companies? 如何保证上市公司财务信息披露真实性?

3 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？

4 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

5 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

6 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

7 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

8 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。

9 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

10 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

11 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

12 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

13 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。