VOA常速英语2014--Violence Escalates as Libya Faces Oil Standoff 利比亚面临石油僵局和暴力升级(在线收听

 

Violence Escalates as Libya Faces Oil Standoff 利比亚面临石油僵局和暴力升级

A standoff between Libya’s central government and militias who control oil fields threatens to escalate into conflict, after the rebels said they would sell oil directly to the world market despite a government ban. Militias in the east and south are demanding autonomy, threatening to derail Libya’s path to stability following the overthrow of Muammar Gadhafi in 2011. The lawlessness is feeding violence across the country.

利比亚中央政府和控制油田的民兵之间的对峙可能升级为冲突。此前,反政府武装声称,他们将不顾政府禁令、直接在世界市场出售石油。东部和南部的民兵要求自治,威胁要把利比亚从2011年推翻卡扎菲后走向稳定的道路上拉下来。没有法律控制导致暴力活动在全国各地蔓延。

The lines of cars waiting for gasoline snake through the streets of Tripoli. Libya may have among the world’s biggest oil reserves - but people are waiting for hours or even days to buy fuel. Among them is Tripoli resident Fatima.

利比亚拥有全世界一些最大的石油储备。但是,的黎波里的居民需要排几个小时甚至几天的队才能买到汽油。

Fatima says she has been waiting for days now. "This country… we will not be able to live here... the situation worsens every day," she says.

特里波里居民法蒂玛说:“我们已经等了几天了。这个国家真是……我是说我们在这里生活不下去了,我很难过。局势一天比一天坏。”

Militias in the east have blockaded ports and refineries - starving the country of its one primary source of cash - oil exports. Production is less than a fifth of the pre-revolution level of 1.6 million barrels per day.

东部地区的民兵封锁了港口和炼油厂,让这个国家失去了主要现金来源——石油出口。目前的产量还不足革命前160万桶日产量的五分之一。

Ibrahim al-Jathran, who leads the Benghazi-based militia that has led the oil blockade, says they stopped the oil shipments because the oil money goes out and comes back to suppress and terrify Libyan citizens.

扎斯兰带领班加西民兵实施了这次石油封锁。扎斯兰说:“我们为什么停止石油供应?因为他们用出口石油赚的钱镇压和恐吓利比亚人民。”

Jathran’s militia has declared its own autonomous government in the east and is trying to sell oil directly on the world market - risking confrontation with Libya's navy.

扎斯兰的民兵宣布在东部地区建立自治政府,并且冒着跟利比亚海军发生冲突的危险,试图直接向国际市场出售石油。

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has rejected giving any autonomy to the militias. But he has few options, says John Hamilton of analyst group Cross-Border Information.

总理扎伊丹拒绝给予民兵任何自治权。跨境信息分析集团的汉密尔顿说,扎伊丹没有什么选择。

“There’s really no prospect of the government moving against them militarily, that would be a disaster. They’ve tried bribing them, they’ve tried persuading them. The government can’t meet their political demands and so it’s a deadlock,” he said.

他说:“在军事上和他们对抗对政府来说没有好处,那将是一场灾难。他们试图贿赂他们,试图劝说他们。政府无法满足他们的政治要求,所以现在陷入了僵局。”

That deadlock must be broken if Libya is to become a stable democracy, says former U.S. diplomat Ethan Chorin, author of a book on the Libyan revolution titled Exit the Colonel.

美国前外交官科林通过Skype对美国之音说,如果利比亚要成为一个稳定的民主国家,必须打破这个僵局。

“If things keep going in this direction then some form of federalism is not only inevitable, but probably a good idea,” said Chorin.

科林说:“如果事情继续朝这个方向发展,那么,某种形式的联邦化不仅无法避免,而且很可能是个好主意。”

Compounding economic, political woes

Escalating violence is compounding Libya’s economic and political woes. This month a Briton and a New Zealander were shot dead near Tripoli. In December, Libya’s first suicide bomb attack near Benghazi killed seven soldiers.

不断升级的暴力正在加剧利亚比的经济和政治困境。这个月,一名英国人和一名新西兰人在的黎波里附近被人开枪打死。

Ethan Chorin says the deteriorating security situation can be traced to the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, in which U.S. ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

去年12月,班加西附近发生的利亚比第一起自杀式炸弹袭击导致七名士兵丧生。科林说,不断恶化的安全局势可以追溯到2012年班加西美国领事馆遭袭击事件。美国大使史蒂文斯和另外三名美国人在那次袭击中丧生。

“Which essentially turned much of the east into a no-man’s land, not only for Westerners but for the central government. And certainly there are a collection of criminal and former regimist and Islamist factions that are taking advantage of the chaos,” he said.

科林说:“这些袭击事件基本上把东部变成了一个无人区,不仅对西方人如此,对利比亚中央政府也是如此。当然,各种罪犯、忠于前政权的人和伊斯兰激进派系正在利用这场混乱。”

That lawlessness has turned parts of Libya into a haven for militants, says Professor Fawaz Gerges of the London School of Economics.

伦敦经济学院的格杰斯教授说,失去法律控制,利比亚部分地区成了武装分子的天堂。

“Libya has emerged now as a major base, a flow, of fighters and arms to west Africa, to north Africa, even to Syria,” said Gerges.

格杰斯说:“利比亚现在变成了武装分子和军火进入西非、北非甚至叙利亚的一个主要基地。”

Bringing Libya’s factions and heavily-armed militias together under one flag continues to pose a great challenge - and analysts say the consequences of failure would impact the entire region.

将利比亚各派系和全副武装的民兵集合在同一面旗帜下仍然是个巨大挑战。分析人士说,如果做不到这一点,整个地区都将受到影响。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/voastandard/2014/1/243366.html