VOA标准英语2008年-Residents of Poor Areas in Mauritania's Cap

The reclusive leader of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebel group, Joseph Kony, has said peace talks with the Ugandan government should resume. Derek Kilner reports from VOA's East Africa bureau in Nairobi.
　
Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), answers journalists' questions in Ri-Kwamba, southern Sudan (2006 file photo)

Joseph Kony delivered his comments in a rare interview with Radio France International on Sunday.

"As the chairman of the Lord's Resistance Army I want these peace talks to resume back again to Juba," he said. "I want to go to table back again to Juba and I need also not to fight again with Uganda government."

A delegation¹ from the Lord's Resistance Army had been negotiating with the Ugandan government, under the mediation² of Mozambique's former president Joachim Chissano and the vice³ president of the semi-autonomous government of southern Sudan, Riek Machar. By April, the two sides had drafted a peace agreement, but the talks collapsed⁴ after Kony failed to turn up for a meeting to sign the agreement.

Sunday's interview provides Kony's first public comments since the failed meeting.

"My main message to the people of Uganda is this: 'Me, as the chairman of the Lords Resistance Army I am the one who called peace talks, so I am not going to refuse anything about this,'" he said. "And I am agreeing to continue dialogue until we finish everything and I am not going to go back to war with the Ugandan government. "

In response to the apparent failure of the peace process, the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and southern Sudan agreed to launch a joint⁵ military operation against the Lord's Resistance Army. The wisdom of the military approach appeared to be bolstered⁶ after Lord's Resistance Army rebels attacked southern Sudanese troops earlier this month.

But southern Sudan's Riek Machar says he is willing to resume negotiations⁷.

"This is a good step forward that he has come out to say he would want the peace process to continue," he said. "I am looking to receive a call from him. Already the leader from his team has rang me in the morning and I told him that once General Joseph Kony rings me we will make the arrangements for him to come to Juba."

Ugandan military spokesman Paddy Ankunda said he also welcomed the resumption of peace talks.

"What we want is peace. If he can gives us a shortcut⁸ by accepting to sign the agreement that is welcome," he said. "We will wait and see. If he is serious he will turn up, if he is not, he will not. He had better come himself, but if he can give us any authentic⁹ mediators or delegates we will work with whoever can take us to that signature."

Joseph Kony and his top deputies are wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. The two-decade conflict has spread from Northern Uganda into Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

 

1 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

2 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 bolstered   

v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He bolstered his plea with new evidence. 他举出新的证据来支持他的抗辩。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The data must be bolstered by inferences and indirect estimates of varying degrees of reliability. 这些资料必须借助于推理及可靠程度不同的间接估计。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 shortcut   

n.近路，捷径

参考例句：

• He was always looking for a shortcut to fame and fortune.他总是在找成名发财的捷径。
• If you take the shortcut,it will be two li closer.走抄道去要近2里路。

9 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。