2006年VOA标准英语-Ethiopian Troops Advance Towards Somali Capital

By Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi
26 December 2006

Ethiopian troops Tuesday were heading towards the Somali capital as Islamist fighters retreated from the front line following Monday's bombing of two airports by Ethiopian forces. Ethiopian jets Tuesday also fired missiles at retreating Islamist fighters. Cathy Majtenyi reports for VOA from Nairobi.

 
Transitional Federal Government forces drive on the outskirts¹ of Burhakaba in Somalia, 26 Dec 2006
Somalia's ambassador to Ethiopia Abdikarin Farah was quoted in media reports as saying that Ethiopian troops were less than 100 kilometers away from Mogadishu and could possibly take the city within 48 hours.

The secretary-general of the National Union of Somali Journalists, Omar Faruk Osman, tells VOA he has heard that the Ethiopian troops were on their way to the capital, and that jets had fired upon Islamist fighters retreating from the front line.

"There is a fear that they may come to Mogadishu by tonight [Tuesday]. There is very high tension here in Mogadishu - people are fearing that," he said. "There was another air raid today in the Lower Shabelle Region by the Ethiopian war planes."

 
A destroyed truck belonging to Islamic Courts soldiers lies beside a road at Burhakaba, Somalia, 26 Dec 2006
The air raid Osman was referring to occurred at Leego, a location just east of Burhakaba, on Tuesday as Islamic fighters were retreating from two front line locations. Several people were reportedly killed during the air raid.

A top official in the Islamic Courts Union, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, confirmed to VOA that his fighters were leaving the front.

"They [Ethiopian forces] fire, they're fighting, and we are retreating," he said.

Aweys would not go into any more details about the Islamists' plan. Other Islamic Courts Union officials are quoted in media reports as saying that the retreat is temporary and signals a change in military tactics in which the Islamists plan to wage what they call a "long-lasting war" with Ethiopia.

 
An Islamic Courts soldier patrols Mogadishu airport after the Ethiopian air force hit Mogadishu airport, 25 Dec. 2006
On Monday, Ethiopian jets dropped bombs on the airports of Mogadishu and Balidogle.

One day before, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that his country was at war with the Somali Islamists because the Islamists had declared a war on Ethiopia.

The air raids top a week of heavy skirmishes between Islamic fighters and Ethiopian-backed government troops around the town of Baidoa, the seat of the weak transitional government, with hundreds of people on both sides reportedly killed.

The fighting started after the passing of a deadline the Islamists set to order Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia or else face war. Until very recently, Ethiopian authorities have denied the existence of combat troops in Somalia, only that they were training Somali government troops.

Earlier this year, the Islamic Courts Union seized control of the capital and other areas before reaching a truce² with the government.

Negotiations³ between Somalia's transitional government and the Islamic Courts Union collapsed⁴ in Sudan on November 2.

Those talks were meant to finalize⁵ an interim⁶ peace accord that the two sides signed in September that, among other things, called for the creation of a joint⁷ national army and police force.

1 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

2 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

3 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 finalize   

v.落实，定下来

参考例句：

• Let us finalize tonight.让我们今天晚上干完
• 。At the same time,industrial designers work with engineers to finalize components and assembly.同时，工业设计师和工程师一道来完成部件和组装部分的工作。

6 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

7 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。