2006年VOA标准英语-Uganda's Conflict Largely Ignored by West

By Raymond Thibodeaux
Gulu, Uganda
02 March 2006
 

Opposition¹ supporters scream at Ugandan riot police as police and opposition supporters clashed in Kampala, February 25, 2006  
  
Many of the nearly two million people displaced by northern Uganda's long-running conflict were set to return home after the country's presidential election, if President Yoweri Museveni was defeated. He won. Now, many in northern Uganda are bracing² for another five years of suffering.

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Aid agencies say as many as 100,000 people have died, and nearly a 1,000 more die every week, mainly from conflict-related hunger and lack of medicine. Nearly two million people have been displaced at the hands of a shadowy militia³ with ties to Sudan's Arab-led government. It sounds like western Sudan's Darfur conflict, but it's not. This is northern Uganda, where suffering from a 20-year insurgency⁴ has attracted little international media attention.

President Museveni has won international acclaim⁵ and financial aid from Western governments for tackling the country's rampant⁶ HIV and AIDS problem, and returning stability to a country devastated⁷ by two decades of brutal⁸ repression⁹ by former dictators Idi Amin and Milton Obote.

Father Carlos Rodriguez, a Spaniard, who has lived in northern Uganda for 20 years, helps to lead a network of religious groups in the region, the Religious Leaders Peace Initiative.

"Our conflict is taking place in an area where there are no economic or commercial interests. We also have a situation where the government of Uganda, Museveni's government, was always presented as a success story in Africa. So, for many, many years, this conflict was always minimized," Father Rodriguez said. "I think, these are some of the reasons why the conflict has not featured high in the international press, or international forums¹⁰, like the United Nations."

A rebel group, known as the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, has terrorized this region of northern Uganda, raiding villages and committing atrocities¹¹ that rank them among the world's most brutal and most feared fighters. They have kidnapped tens of thousands of children, turning them into sex slaves, porters and child soldiers.

They have spread fear across the region. The United Nations estimates they have killed as many as 100,000 people. About 1.7 million people, fearing attacks, have abandoned their farms and villages for the relative safety of camps in larger cities, such as Gulu, about 350 kilometers north of Kampala, Uganda's capital.

The LRA wants to topple Mr. Museveni's government for marginalizing the Acholi ethnic¹² group in northern Uganda, the ethnic group from which the LRA draws its top-ranking commanders. They also want to install a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments.

Until 2002, the LRA received money and high-tech¹³ weaponry from Sudan's Arab-dominated government, mainly to carry out attacks against the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, southern Sudan's largest rebel group, which was backed by Mr. Museveni's government.

Observers say Mr. Museveni has either ignored or downplayed the seriousness of the conflict in northern Uganda, a poor region where Mr. Museveni has had very little support. But during the most recent election campaign, Mr. Museveni promised to end the war in the north and facilitate the return of the displaced to their homes.

Philip Lutara is the regional director for Concerned Parents, a Ugandan non-governmental organization helping¹⁴ parents find kidnapped or missing children in northern Uganda.

In addition to putting an end to the war, he says, Mr. Museveni should help rebuild the north, an area largely ignored by the government in Kampala.

"It's the LRA terrorizing the people, but the condition under which the government is protecting everybody is one, which is alarming everybody. How do you expect a family of eight people to share one hut? How do you expect a whole generation to live in that squalid condition for a decade? We are now closing in on a decade. What economic base do we have now? What economic activities can we carry out now?" asked Lutara.

For many, it's as if Uganda were two countries: the prosperous south, with its shiny shopping malls, luxury hotels and growing middle class, and the war-ravaged north, with its ghost villages and squalid camps for the displaced.

In Uganda's February election, most people in this northern region voted for Mr. Museveni's challenger, Kizza Besigye. A Besigye win, they say, would have automatically ended the war by eliminating the LRA's main reason for being, paving the way for them to return home.

But with Mr. Museveni extending his 20-year rule for another five-year term, people here are skeptical¹⁵ of Mr. Museveni's campaign promise to end the war.

Most people here believe this is a war Mr. Museveni is not in a hurry to win, especially because the people most affected¹⁶ are the Acholi, many of whom served in the armies of Amin and Obote, both of whom were overthrown¹⁷ by Mr. Museveni. Father Rodriguez says the Acholi see the lingering conflict, and the government's weak response, as a form of punishment for their opposition to Mr. Museveni.

"More than 95 percent of people here in Acholi would definitely support that point of view," added Father Rodriguez. "The best thing that Mr. Museveni could do is to prove people here wrong. Mr. Museveni has just won the election. He's now [in] for a new term in office. He did promise very strongly during his campaign that he's going to finish up this business to pacify¹⁸ the north, to make it possible for displaced people to go back home. So that, after a few months, people may be able to say, 'We were mistaken.'"

Until then, many northern Ugandans are trapped between two hard choices: returning to their outlying villages that are still vulnerable to rebel attacks, or remaining in the relative safety of camps, which are crowded and poorly protected and where they rely on food rations¹⁹ from the few aid agencies operating in the region.

1 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。

2 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

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 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

5 acclaim   

v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞

参考例句：

• He was welcomed with great acclaim.他受到十分热烈的欢迎。
• His achievements earned him the acclaim of the scientific community.他的成就赢得了科学界的赞誉。

6 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

7 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

8 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

9 repression   

n.镇压，抑制，抑压

参考例句：

• The repression of your true feelings is harmful to your health.压抑你的真实感情有害健康。
• This touched off a new storm against violent repression.这引起了反对暴力镇压的新风暴。

10 forums   

讨论会； 座谈会； 广播专题讲话节目； 集会的公共场所( forum的名词复数 )； 论坛，讨论会，专题讨论节目； 法庭

参考例句：

• A few of the forums were being closely monitored by the administrators. 有些论坛被管理员严密监控。
• It can cast a dark cloud over these forums. 它将是的论坛上空布满乌云。

11 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》

12 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。

13 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

14 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

15 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

17 overthrown   

adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词

参考例句：

• The president was overthrown in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被赶下台。
• He has overthrown the basic standards of morality. 他已摒弃了基本的道德标准。

18 pacify   

vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰

参考例句：

• He tried to pacify the protesters with promises of reform.他试图以改革的承诺安抚抗议者。
• He tried to pacify his creditors by repaying part of the money.他为安抚债权人偿还了部分借款。

19 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。