VOA标准英语2009年-Group Calls on Liberian President Sirl

Patrick Nimely Sie-Tuon of the U.S.-based Liberia Human Rights Campaign says the group has nothing personal against President Sirleaf only to end impunity¹ in LIberia

James Butty | Washington, DC 08 December 2009

Five months after releasing the unedited version of its final report, Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation² Commission (TRC) will Tuesday release its consolidated³ final report during a news conference in the capital, Monrovia.

Like the initial final report, the consolidated final report recommends that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and 51 other individuals be banned for 30 years from holding public offices for their roles in the country’s bloody⁴ civil war.

 

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia

A U.S.-based group is calling on President Sirleaf to implement⁵ the recommendations in the final version of the TRC report or resign. 

Patrick Nimely Sie-Tuon, general coordinator⁶ of the Liberia Human Rights Campaign, said his group has nothing personal against President Sirleaf only to end impunity in Liberia.

“We have been living under this cloud of impunity where this perception persists in our country that certain people are above the law. The TRC report provides a great avenue for us to get out of this mess, and the president, as head of the country is under obligation to implement what is considered the law of the land,” he said.

Sie-Tuon said the TRC was established by an act of the Liberian Legislature, and President Sirleaf is under obligation to implement the commission’s recommendations.

He rejected the suggestion that calling for President Sirleaf’s resignation was too strong a demand.

“No demand is stronger than the protection of our country. I would also say to those people that the wickedness that was meted⁷ out against the Liberian people by these warlords that the president is trying to protect. Their action was beyond, I don’t which to describe the word to use to describe that,” Sie-Tuon said.

Deputy Information Minister Cletus Sieh said President Sirleaf will do whatever the Liberian people want her to do about the TRC report.

“The president has been very consistent in saying that it will be the Liberian people who will make the final determination as to what happens. And so those who are calling for the president to implement the TRC report must rethink,” Sieh said.

He described the Commission’s final report as clothed in controversy⁸ and politically motivated.

“There are some people who are working for their political godfathers that want to make sure that the president along with some people that they perceive to be very strong would be banned from the process so that they have an easy ride,” he said.

Sieh said Liberians should decide whether President Sirleaf should have a second term in 2011.

The act establishing the TRC gives the commission three months after issuing its final report to wrap up its work.

But TRC sources said the Liberian government has yet to make available about $500,000 the commission has requested to pay its staff and finalize⁹ its work. 

The sources said the lease for the building housing the TRC’s offices is expected to expire at the end of December with the likelihood the commission could be evicted¹⁰.

But Sieh said he was not aware of the TRC requesting $500,000 to complete its work.

He said the government will meet any ‘legitimate’ obligation concerning the TRC.

Sieh accused some members of the TRC of leading a one or two-man crusade pushing for implementation¹¹ of the commission’s final report even though he said the TRC mandate¹² has expired.

 

1 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

2 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。

3 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。

4 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

5 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

6 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？

7 meted   

v.（对某人）施以，给予（处罚等）( mete的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The severe punishment was meted out to the unruly hooligan. 对那个嚣张的流氓已给予严厉惩处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The money was meted out only after it had been carefully counted. 钱只有仔细点过之后才分发。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

9 finalize   

v.落实，定下来

参考例句：

• Let us finalize tonight.让我们今天晚上干完
• 。At the same time,industrial designers work with engineers to finalize components and assembly.同时，工业设计师和工程师一道来完成部件和组装部分的工作。

10 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

11 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

12 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。