Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on Wednesday a multi-pronged U.S. effort to curb Somali-based maritime piracy. Among other things, the United States will move to track and freeze assets of pirate gangs, and press Somali authorities to shut down pirate land bases.
美国国务卿希拉里.克林顿星期三宣布，美国将多管齐下，制止以索马里为基地的海盗活动，其中包括美国将采取行动追查并冻结海盗集团的资产，敦促索马里当局取缔海盗的陆地巢穴。
Clinton says she hopes the surge of piracy in recent days, including attacks on two U.S.-flagged vessels, will be a catalyst for concerted action against pirates and bring an end to the acceptance of ransom-paying as a cost of doing business for shippers off the African east coast.
克林顿说，她希望近日包括袭击两艘悬挂美国国旗的轮船在内的海盗猖獗现象成为一种催化剂，促进各方联合打击海盗的协调行动，从而终止海运业者把支付赎金当作在非洲东海岸经营生意的成本的作法。
At the State Department, Clinton said the Obama administration intends to work diplomatically to tackle the piracy problem and to deal with the underlying instability in Somalia that gives rise to it.
克林顿在国务院说，奥巴马政府打算通过外交努力应对海盗问题，并处理导致海盗问题层出不穷的索马里的不稳定局势。
She said she is sending an envoy to a conference on Somali peacekeeping and development that opens on April 23 in Brussels, and calling a meeting of the more than 30-nation international contact group on Somali piracy to coordinate an expanded international presence in the region to combat the threat.
她说，她即将派遣一名特使出席4月23号在布鲁塞尔开幕的索马里维和会议，并且就索马里海盗问题召开30多个国家参加的国际联络团体会议，以协调扩大国际力量在那个地区的存在，对抗海盗威胁。
Clinton said top U.S. priorities include securing the release of ships and crews currently held by Somali pirates, and eliminating the financial payoff of piracy by tracking and freezing the assets of pirate gangs.
克林顿说，美国的首要任务包括确保目前被索马里海盗劫持的船只和船员获释，以及通过追查和冻结海盗集团的资产来杜绝海盗行为的财务所得。
"We track and freeze, and try to disrupt the assets of many stateless groups - drug traffickers and terrorists - just to name two. We have noticed that the pirates are buying more sophisticated equipment, they're buying faster and more capable vessels. They are clearly using their ransom money for their benefit both personally and on behalf of their piracy. And we think we can begin to try to track and prevent that from happening," she said.
她说：“我们追查、冻结并且争取捣毁许多没有国籍的集团资产，比如毒品走私分子和恐怖分子，仅举两例。我们注意到海盗们在购买更为精密的装备，他们在购买更快、功能更强的船舶。他们显然在把他们拿到的赎金用来使他们个人及其海盗行当都得到好处。我们认为，我们能够开始努力追查，防止那种事情发生。”
The secretary said the poverty and instability in Somalia that underlie the piracy problem are not being forgotten. But depicting the surge of maritime hijackings as a raging fire, she said you "have to try to put out the fire before rebuilding the house."
克林顿国务卿说，潜伏在海盗问题下面的索马里的贫困和不稳定没有被忘记。不过，她把这些猖狂的海上劫持行径比作熊熊大火，她说你“得先努力灭火，然后再重建房屋”。
Clinton said she has directed U.S. diplomats to engage officials of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and regional leaders of the autonomous Puntland region, where many pirates are based, to press them to take action against what she termed "armed gangs on the seas".
克林顿说，她已经指示美国外交官员们跟索马里过渡联邦政府以及庞特兰自治区的地方领袖们保持接触，敦促他们采取行动，打击她所说的“海上武装集团”。许多海盗在庞特兰自治区藏身。
She said the transitional administration's new president, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, in particular, should be taken up on his expressed determination to curb lawlessness in his troubled country.
她说，过渡政府的新总统沙理夫.艾哈迈德表示决心制止索马里那种无法无天状态，这一表态尤其应该受到认真对待。
"We want to listen to them. The indications are that Sheikh Ahmed, the president of the Transitional Federal Government, understands that these pirates are a threat to the stability and order within Somalia that he is attempting to reassert. We want to hear from him and from other partners in the region what would be useful to help them," she said.
她说：“我们要听听他们所言。过渡联邦政府总统艾哈迈德了解这些海盗对他力图恢复的索马里国内稳定和秩序是一个威胁。我们要从他和那个地区的其他伙伴们那里听到，什么对于帮助他们是有用的。”
Clinton said the key to the problem is closing pirate land bases and said the United States "has a pretty good idea" where they are located.
克林顿说，解决这个问题的关键是取缔海盗的陆上基地。她说，美国对于那些海盗的藏身之处有相当多的了解。
She said she assumes that Somali tribal leaders would not like to have the international community "bearing down on them" and that they may be willing to cooperate in ridding their territory of the bases.
她说，她想索马里部落领袖们不会愿意让国际社会对其施压，所以他们可能愿意合作在他们的地盘铲除那些海盗基地。
Clinton said the Obama administration will convene a high-level U.S. government interagency meeting on piracy this Friday.
克林顿说，奥巴马行政当局星期五将就海盗问题举行跨部门的美国政府高级会议。 |