VOA慢速英语2015 尼日利亚军队前往博科圣地叛乱中心

AS IT IS 2015-06-12 Nigeria Military Moves to Center of Boko Haram Rebellion 尼日利亚军队前往博科圣地叛乱中心

The Nigerian military has moved its command center to the northeastern city of Maiduguri, the birthplace of the extremist group Boko Haram.

The new location might be critical to defeating the group and its supporters. Boko Haram has been attacking civilians¹ and Nigerian government forces for six years in an effort to establish its version of Sharia or Islamic law. The militants³ have killed thousands of people in northeastern Nigeria and displaced thousands more.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari announced the planned move from Abuja to Maiduguri last month after he took office.

Yan St. Pierre is with the Berlin-based security firm MOSECON. He says the move is an important step for Nigeria’s military.

“This is a huge move, it’s a very intelligent move, and should have been done, in my opinion, a long time ago. It’s only a temporary move, but it’s a very smart one, and it’s going to cut a lot of the bureaucratic⁴ decisions, it's going to speed up the process and it’s definitely going to be a boost to the soldiers knowing that the commanding officers are actually on-site as well.”

Mr. Buhari used the issue of Boko Haram to defeat former President Goodluck Jonathan in the election last March. During Mr. Jonathan’s leadership, the militant² group was able to capture huge parts of northeastern Nigeria. Nigerian soldiers and troops and fighters from neighboring countries took back most of that territory in the months just before the vote.

Alkasim Abdulkadir is a reporter and security expert. He says there was little direction of military planning and budgeting for the fight against Boko Haram. He says President Buhari should be able do that better from Maiduguri.

“So one thing that we might see here is the president, being a former army general himself, would have an idea how these things are done.”

The president and his generals have much difficult work in the weeks to come. Boko Haram has continued to carry out attacks since the presidential inauguration⁵ May 29. The violence has included suicide bombings and rocket bombardments in Maiduguri.

Words in This Story

bureaucratic – adj. using or connected with many complex rules and ways of doing things to operate a government

boost – v. to increase the force, power or amount of (something)

bombardment – n. to hit or attack (something or someone) repeatedly

1 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 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。

4 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

5 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。