美国目击者描述达尔福尔暴力

 

American Witness Describes Atrocities¹ in Darfur

美国目击者描述达尔福尔暴力

 

An American who served as a monitor in the Darfur region of Sudan has returned to the United States to speak out about the atrocities he witnessed during his mission. He hopes his story will mobilize international efforts to stop what the United States has termed genocide.

 

Brian Steidle has been called an American witness to genocide.

 

The 28-year-old former Marine² Captain returned to the United States last month after serving six months monitoring Darfur with an African Union mission. He shared his experiences with members of Congress and reporters.

 

Captain Steidle said his observations convince him that the Sudanese government, with support from Arab militias⁴ known as the Janjeweed, is clearly behind the atrocities he witnessed.

 

Captain Steidle: This is not a tribal⁵ conflict between villages. This is between one family and another family. This is a government-led military operation targeted at the African tribes in the Darfur region.

 

Captain Steidle offered evidence that the Sudanese government is using helicopter gunships to attack villages, something that Khartoum has denied. He showed a photograph depicting⁶ a helicopter gunship firing on a village, and held up ammunition⁷ that he says he found in a village that had been attacked by such aircraft.

 

Captain Steidle: This is a flechette, which the helicopter gunships use on the villages. Every gunship carries four rocket pods, each rocket pod has about 20 rockets, and each rocket has about 500. These are only used to maim⁸ and kill people.

 

Captain Steidle said his most frustrating⁹ moment was in December when the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed attacked the village of Labado, home to about 20,000 people. He said a Sudanese general refused to let him enter the village.

 

Captain Steidle: Standing¹⁰ on the edge of the village with a Brigadier General in the Sudanese army standing next to me, watching this village burn to the ground. They had just attacked it. There was shooting in the village. It was being burnt to the ground in front of us. There was a solid stream of Arab militia³, the Janjeweed, coming from one side with empty horses, camels, mules¹², and going back the other way fully¹³ loaded with stuff they had taken from the villagers.

 

Captain Steidle said the Sudanese general refused to stop the attack.

 

Captain Steidle: We asked him what his mission was, he said it was to protect the civilians¹⁴ and to open the road to commercial traffic, I asked him why he did not stop what was going on. He said 'these are not my people. I do not have control over them.' He had 3,000 troops behind him.

 

His talk was illustrated¹⁵ with some particularly graphic¹⁶ photographs and slides. Several depicted¹⁷ skeletons, some with clothing still attached.

 

Captain Steidle: This place here, there were bodies spread 20 meters that way, 30 meters that way, there was one area that was 50 meters by 50 meters, and you could not walk around without stepping on human bones. We have no idea how many people were there. They had been half buried like this. This individual here had been tied, pants pulled down around the knees presumably to be sexually assaulted.

 

Captain Steidle ended his talk on a hopeful note, saying what is happening in Darfur can be stopped with enough international support. He said what is needed is up to 50,000 troops on the ground, in every village and camp in Darfur.

 

Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, who was among those who welcomed Captain Steidle, said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan should be held accountable if the world body does not act soon on Darfur.

 

Mr. Brownback has introduced legislation calling for U.N. economic and diplomatic sanctions against those responsible for genocide in Sudan, including against Sudanese government.

 

Daborah Tate, VOA news, Capitol Hill.

 

注释：

genocide [5dVenEu7said] n. 有计划的灭种和屠杀

atrocity¹⁸ [E5trCsiti] n. 残暴，暴行

gunship [5^QnFip] n. <美>[军俚] 武装直升机

ammunition [7Amju5niFEn] n. 军火，弹药

rocket pod 火箭仓

mule¹¹ [mju:l] n. 骡

slide [slaid] n. 幻灯片

sanction [5sANkFEn] n. 制裁

1 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• 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 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

4 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

5 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

6 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

7 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

8 maim   

v.使残废，使不能工作，使伤残

参考例句：

• Automobile accidents maim many people each year. 汽车车祸每年使许多人残废。
• These people kill and maim innocent civilians.这些人杀死和残害无辜平民。

9 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 mule   

n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人

参考例句：

• A mule is a cross between a mare and a donkey.骡子是母马和公驴的杂交后代。
• He is an old mule.他是个老顽固。

12 mules   

骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者

参考例句：

• The cart was pulled by two mules. 两匹骡子拉这辆大车。
• She wore tight trousers and high-heeled mules. 她穿紧身裤和拖鞋式高跟鞋。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 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。

15 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

16 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

17 depicted   

描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• Other animals were depicted on the periphery of the group. 其他动物在群像的外围加以修饰。
• They depicted the thrilling situation to us in great detail. 他们向我们详细地描述了那激动人心的场面。

18 atrocity   

n.残暴，暴行

参考例句：

• These people are guilty of acts of great atrocity.这些人犯有令人发指的暴行。
• I am shocked by the atrocity of this man's crimes.这个人行凶手段残忍狠毒使我震惊。