VOA标准英语2008年-Somalis Press Security Council to Send Internat

Somalia's top diplomat¹ has urged the U.N. Security Council to deploy² an international peacekeeping force to his country, saying the political environment is improving and he hopes it will lead to an improved security situation. From United Nation's headquarters in New York, VOA's Margaret Besheer has more.

Last month in Djibouti, the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the oppositon Alliance for the Reliberation for Somalia (ARS), initialed a peace and reconciliation³ agreement that Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Jama says he hopes both parties will sign within the next two weeks in Saudi Arabia.

But one factor that could jeopardize⁴ the peace deal is a change in leadership of the opposition⁵. A hardline Islamist has taken over as head of Somalia's exiled opposition movement, pushing out a relative moderate who participated in the Djibouti talks.

Jama says his government is fully⁶ committed to implementing⁷ its obligations under the Djibouti agreement, and it expects the ARS to meet their commitments as well. He said this would open the way to a climate conducive⁸ to the United Nations sending troops to Somalia - leading to the exit of Ethiopian forces that have been in Somalia at the government's invitation since 2006.

"In this context, we hope that we are all in agreement that if the Security Council authorizes¹⁰ the deployment¹¹ of a United Nations international stabilization¹² force without delay, we will have ample reasons to believe that the 17-year-old agony of the Somali people will draw to an end," he said.

The Somali foreign minister says he has had encouraging talks with U.N. member states about their contributing troops to such a force, and that at the recent AU summit in Sharm El Sheikh many states came forward with offers to help, but he would not say who had shown a willingness to participate.

U.N. Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah told the council that it is time for them to take "bold, decisive and fast action."

"For their part, the Somalis have started working together and today the ball is in the court of the international community," he said. "We need to act quickly."

He said there are three main options for Somalia. One would be to change the role of the current African Union force, known as AMISOM, to a U.N. force and improve its capabilities¹³. The second option, would be to deploy an international stabilization force; and the third option would be for the Security Council to authorize⁹ a U.N. peacekeeping force.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad questioned whether the political process could move forward in the face of the deteriorating¹⁴ security and humanitarian¹⁵ situations. He said the council needs to look at the whole range of options and has asked the U.N. secretariat to provide them with some planning ideas by August 15.

"And then based on that planning and looking at the options, there can be a serious discussion," Khalilzad said. "So far the discussions in the council are a bit theoretical, because we do not have concrete plans to evaluate, to respond, to judge."

He said he thinks council members are coming around to the idea that they need to do something, but they have not yet decided¹⁶ what the best course of action should be.

Somalia has been without a real government for nearly 20 years. The U.N. says today more than three million Somalis live in exile, and nearly a million more are displaced as the violence continues.

 

1 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

2 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

3 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

4 jeopardize   

vt.危及，损害

参考例句：

• Overworking can jeopardize your health.工作过量可能会危及你的健康。
• If you are rude to the boss it may jeopardize your chances of success.如果你对上司无礼，那就可能断送你成功的机会。

5 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。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

8 conducive   

adj.有益的，有助的

参考例句：

• This is a more conducive atmosphere for studying.这样的氛围更有利于学习。
• Exercise is conducive to good health.体育锻炼有助于增强体质。

9 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

10 authorizes   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The dictionary authorizes the two spellings 'traveler' and 'traveller'. 字典裁定traveler和traveller两种拼法都对。
• The dictionary authorizes the two spellings "honor" and "honour.". 字典裁定 honor 及 honour 两种拼法均可。

11 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。

12 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

13 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

14 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

15 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。

16 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。