Pan-African Parliament Prepares for Historic Meeting

 

By Challiss McDonough

The new Pan-African Parliament will open its second session Thursday in South Africa. It is the first time the all-African body will be meeting in its permanent host country.

It is perhaps easier to say what the Pan-African Parliament will not be doing than to say what it will do. It will not have the power to enact¹ laws or create budgets. It will not be deploying² peacekeepers. It will not be implementing³ any sweeping⁴ continental⁵ policy shifts. At least not yet.

A lot of what it will do will be up to its members, who are essentially⁶ defining their own roles as they go, since nothing like this has ever been done in Africa.

According to research director Korwa Adar of the Africa Institute of South Africa, the Pan-African Parliament will bring African lawmakers together from all corners of the continent and will give them a chance to address the problems that plague them all.

"For the first time, African legislative⁷ bodies have seconded representatives from various parts of the continent to sit together and brainstorm⁸, if you will, on issues that affect the continent, whether it is economic, political or social and so on. And I think it is a good step."

Initially⁹, the main role of the Pan-African Parliament will be to advise the African Union and serve as a forum¹⁰ for continental debate and discussion. That dialogue will be carried out in five languages, and organizers are thinking about adding a sixth.

Cape-Town-based parliamentary analyst¹¹ Tim Hughes of the South African Institute for International Affairs says the African Union will probably provide the framework for the debate, at least at first.

"It will apply its mind to questions of democratization, questions of transparency, questions of good governance. It will also discuss matters of peacekeeping as well, all with a view to strengthening, if you like, pan-African initiatives to achieve these broad objectives."

Mr. Hughes says the creation of the Pan-African Parliament is partly a reaction against what he calls "the top-down, executive-driven development and political programs that have characterized African development in the post-colonial period."

He says it is trying to get civil society and average people involved in solving Africa's problems - as opposed to previous efforts at pan-African unity¹², which have largely been restricted to heads of state.

"I think in the first instance, the Pan-African Parliament is an attempt to provide a voice, not just an executive voice, not just a voice for Africa's 'big men,' but rather a voice for a wide spectrum¹³ of people. And it is perhaps that diversity that the Pan-African Parliament provides for. It is an opportunity I think for sometimes marginalized groups, for different ethnic¹⁴ groups, for different regional groupings to have an opinion expressed in a representative forum."

At the parliament's first meeting in Ethiopia in March, members elected Tanzanian women's rights activist¹⁵ Gertrude Mongella as their first president. She has vowed¹⁶ that the body will not shy away from tough issues. For example, she says it simply has to address the crisis in the Sudanese region of Darfur.

But some analysts¹⁷ are concerned that the composition of the Pan-African Parliament will keep it from dealing¹⁸ with the continent's toughest problems. Some of its members come from countries where there is nothing resembling democracy. There are questions about their ability or willingness to criticize the leaders back home.

Korwa Adar, of the Africa Institute, is adamant¹⁹ that the body must be directly elected in order to really represent the interests of 800 million African people.

"The issue of governance is so crucial in the continent. If the Pan-African Parliament is not going to address this issue, then it is just going to be one of those talk shops, so it is important in my view that the African people, the general populace, the citizens, the electorates²⁰ are drawn²¹ directly into the process, not through the back doors."

Some countries have seen controversy²² over who is included in their delegations²³, which were chosen by national parliaments. Each of the African Union's 53 active member states is sending five lawmakers to participate. One member from each nation must be a woman. Whenever possible, the delegations are supposed to include opposition²⁴ members of parliament as well as those from ruling parties.

But as Mr. Hughes points out, that does not guarantee full representation.

"It is sometimes a contentious²⁵ point, because obviously it would go back to parliaments themselves to nominate, and where you have a single-party-dominant system, which is the case in many countries in Africa, of course it's heavily loaded in favor of one party. And sometimes you do have quote-unquote 'tame' opposition MP's being elected to represent a country in the PAP, rather than more robust²⁶ opposition. Nevertheless there has been if you like a genuflection²⁷ to allowing opposition parties to have a voice in the Pan-African Parliament. That is good for domestic politics, and it's good for African politics too."

Mr. Hughes says the hope for the Pan-African Parliament - and for Africa in general - is that members from more democratic countries will influence their colleagues from less-democratic nations, and eventually bring the whole continent closer to its democratic ideal.

Challiss McDonough, VOA news, Johanneseburg.

注释：
host country 东道国
implement 贯彻，实施
brainstorm 集体讨论
democratization 民主化
transparency 透明度
spectrum 普照
marginalized 被忽视的，被排斥的
Ethiopia 埃塞俄比亚
Tanzanian 坦桑尼亚
populace 平民
genuflection 屈服者

1 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

2 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

3 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

4 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

5 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

8 brainstorm   

vi.动脑筋，出主意，想办法，献计，献策

参考例句：

• The women meet twice a month to brainstorm and set business goals for each other.她们每个月聚会两次，在一起出谋献策，为各自制定生意目标。
• We can brainstorm a list of the most influential individuals in the company.我们可以集体讨论，列出该公司中最有影响的人员的名单。

9 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

10 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

13 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

14 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

15 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

16 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

17 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

18 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

19 adamant   

adj.坚硬的，固执的

参考例句：

• We are adamant on the building of a well-off society.在建设小康社会这一点上，我们是坚定不移的。
• Veronica was quite adamant that they should stay on.维罗妮卡坚信他们必须继续留下去。

20 electorates   

全体选民( electorate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The assembly's 15 seats have electorates as small as 190. 大会的15个议席只有很少的190选民参加。
• Restricting hedge funds is something they can sell to their electorates. 限制对冲基金是他们能够向选民兜售的东西。

21 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

22 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。

23 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

24 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

25 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

26 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

27 genuflection   

n. 曲膝, 屈服

参考例句：