PBS高端访谈:限制援助到位的国内和国际因素

 　　JIM LEHRER:Ray Suarez has more on the growing humanitarian¹ crisis in the Horn of Africa.

　　RAY SUAREZ:And for that we turn toJeremy Konyndyk, policy director for Mercy Corps², which has approximately 50 to 100 people doing relief and development work in Somalia. He was last there in the country in April. AndPeter Pham is the director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council.

　　Jeremy Konyndyk, the conditions that we just saw in Somalia don't happen overnight. How long have the problems leading up to a U.N. declaration of famine been building up in Somalia?

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　　JEREMY KONYNDYK,Mercy Corps: By the time it gets to the point of declaring famine, there's been a whole process of degradation³ of the economy, of people's ability to support themselves, of resources that has occurred and grown and grown to the point where basically the ability of many, many Somalis, of about 11 million people across the entire region—because we need to remember that Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya are also suffering similar conditions—it gets to the point where those 11 million people simply have no means what so ever to support themselves.

　　They have lost their—they have lost their crops. They have lost their livestock⁴. They have lost any other means of income. And to a large degree, they have either—well, in the case of people in southern Somalia, no choice but to either find aid, which is scant⁵ in that part of the world, or to flee. Fortunately, in Ethiopia, Kenya and some other parts of Somalia, at least there is aid getting in.

　　RAY SUAREZ:When the early warning system, weather forecasts and other crop forecasts came out of the Horn of Africa, what did the international community do?

　　JEREMY KONYNDYK:I think the international community's response was slow in this case.

　　The U.S. government has been ramping⁶ up drastically now, and was pre-positioning, but if you look at the amounts of money that are going in relative to the last significant crisis in the region, which was in 2008, what we have seen in this year in terms of donations both from the U.S. government and from the community—the international community at large, are well, well short.

　　We estimate that at this point the international community has given about $1 billion less to the drought in the Horn of Africa this year than it gave in 2008, the last major...

　　RAY SUAREZ:Peter Pham, Jeremy mentioned that there are similar crises right now in Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia. Is one of the key differences that those places have governments?

　　J. PETER PHAM,Atlantic Council: Yes.

　　Somalia has a transitional federal government, the 14th or 15th, depending on how you count them, such entity⁷ in 20 years. And it's a government in name only. It controls virtually no territory, provides no services. And about the only thing its ministers are good at is stealing the aid that they get.

　　The last audit⁸ report showed that 96 percent of the aid they received had been stolen.

　　RAY SUAREZ:So, if you look at a map of the region, the problem is concentrated in two parts of the lower part of Ethiopia, Bakool and Lower Shabelle. Who is in charge there?

　　J. PETER PHAM:Well, in those areas, the Shabab, which is an umbrella group for an Islamist group that has some links with al-Qaida and other radical⁹ groups, but also includes clan¹⁰ militias¹¹, et cetera, they reign¹² over the area. But you also have competing clan interests, but you don't have a government, per se.

　　RAY SUAREZ:So how does an aid agency, Jeremy, figure out what to do? Al-Shabab has said that it won't cooperate without with outside efforts to get food to the suffering. And, to be honest, outside governments are not that happy to have to do business with al-Shabab either.

　　JEREMY KONYNDYK:Well, this is one of the real challenges. I mean, international aid groups have really been caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to southern Somalia.

　　Almost all the other zones in the east African region that are affected¹³ by this, we can get to in some form. But there are two sources of blockages¹⁴ you have identified. One, of course, is the security problems that are posed and the refusal by the militants¹⁵ in Southern Somalia to allow international aid groups back in.

　　And the other is the policies of many Western governments, particularly the United States, who have really ramped¹⁶ down their aid to Somalia in the last few years because of the presence of Shabab. And we have seen a collapse¹⁷ of about 88 percent in U.S. funding to Somalia from 2008 to 2010, even as other donors¹⁸ around the world kept their funding at basically the same level.

　　So there is clearly an issue with the U.S. government seeing political issues or—and legal issues with providing aid to Somalia. And that's been a significant concern as well.

　　RAY SUAREZ:Well, Peter, what do you do in a case like that? No one wants to give aid if they know most of it isn't going to reach the intended recipients¹⁹. But you also don't want to stand by while tens of thousands of people die either.

　　J. PETER PHAM:Well, I think what you have to do in the case of Somalia is step aside from this so-called government and get the aid to the people who need it, work with civil society within Somalia.

　　And there are civil society groups that international aid organizations have in the past partnered successfully with. Work with clan elders and get the aid to the people who need it, and let's bypass this corrupt²⁰ government and also bypass the Islamists and the extremists, and that way marginalize them as well.

　　RAY SUAREZ:But can you do that? Are there ports that—where you can actually safely unload ships? Are there roads where you can run trucks with cargo²¹ that won't be waylaid²², that won't be hijacked²³?

　　J. PETER PHAM:No one is saying this is easy. But the port of Mogadishu is open. Other ports are open. Roads, if you know the terrain²⁴, work with local partners, they're—the aid groups are very effective. And the local civil society groups and clan structures are there.

　　We just have to work with—get our head around the idea that we can't always work with governments that look like us. We sometimes have to work with traditional authorities and other institutions that do function in settings like this.

　　RAY SUAREZ:Jeremy, one UNICEF worker on the ground called Somalia one of the most dangerous places, if not the most dangerous place, to do aid work in the world today. Is that right? And what makes it so?

　　JEREMY KONYNDYK:Well, I think we need to draw a distinction between the north and the south in this respect.

　　In the north, which is controlled by a variety of groups depending on where you are, including some fairly developed governance—governments in Puntland and Somaliland, it is not dangerous at all. I mean, there are security threats as you will find in any developing country, but it's not particularly dangerous for aid workers. It's really concentrated in the south that those challenges have existed.

　　And we, as aid workers, we know that our security depends on the acceptance of the communities that we work in. And Peter referred to sort of nontraditional approaches to aid work. And I think that's what we—that's our only chance in Southern Somalia at this point, is working very closely with existing local institutions which are still there which have a lot of capacity.

　　And, you know, the aid groups and the Somali people want to see aid get to whom it's supposed to get to. They want to see it get to the needy²⁵. And so we need to work in a way that makes that—that makes that possible. The challenge now is for both of the—both of the obstacles to that, both the policy obstacles and the security obstacles, we need those removed in order to work.

　　RAY SUAREZ:Jeremy Konyndyk, Peter Pham, thank you both.

　　JEREMY KONYNDYK:Thank you.

　　J. PETER PHAM:Thank you.

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 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

3 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

4 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

5 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。

6 ramping   

土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• The children love ramping about in the garden. 孩子们喜欢在花园里追逐嬉戏，闹着玩。
• Have you ever seen a lion ramping around? 你看到过狮子暴跳吗？

7 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

8 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

9 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

10 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

11 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

12 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

13 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

14 blockages   

n.堵塞物( blockage的名词复数 )；堵塞，阻塞

参考例句：

• The storms could increase the risks posed by river blockages. 暴风雨会增加因河道堵塞所造成的危险。 来自互联网
• An angiogram shows the location and severity of blockages in blood vessels. 冠状动脉造影能够显示血管内的阻塞位置以及阻塞的严重程度。 来自互联网

15 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

16 ramped   

土堤斜坡( ramp的过去式和过去分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• With the arrival of George Lucas, the pace has ramped up. 随着乔治·卢卡斯的到来，速度大大加快。
• They also sold corporate bonds as the global financial crisis ramped up. 在全球金融危机加剧之际，他们还抛售了公司债券。

17 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

18 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

20 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

21 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

22 waylaid   

v.拦截，拦路( waylay的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I got waylaid on my way here. 我在来这里的路上遭到了拦路抢劫。
• He was waylaid by thieves. 他在路上被抢了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

23 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

24 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

25 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。