2006年VOA标准英语-Doubts Arise Over Presence of Foreign Muslim Fi

By Alisha Ryu
Mogadishu
29 May 2006
 
An alliance of secular¹ factional leaders battling Islamic militias³ for control of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, says that militant⁴ Muslim fighters from various countries have entered Somalia and are fighting alongside the militias. But, so far, there is no clear proof.

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Gunmen in Mogadishu
  

Somali factional leader, Muse⁵ Sudi Yalahow, tells VOA that he is absolutely certain that foreign Muslim extremists are in Somalia and fighting to turn the country into a base for Islamic terrorists.

Yalahow says the fighters have come mostly from countries in the region such as Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Sudan. But he says there are other fighters, who are believed to be from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some Arab countries.

Yalahow is among 11 Mogadishu-based factional leaders and businessmen, who recently formed a group called the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism. For the past few weeks, members of the anti-terror group have talked publicly about seeing foreign fighters killed in a series of fierce battles this month, which has killed nearly 300 people, many of them civilians⁶.

In the West, such reports have greatly heightened fears that the leaders of the Islamic courts, whose militias are now in control the majority of the neighborhoods in and around the capital, are on the verge⁷ of turning Somalia into an active staging ground for al-Qaida and its extremist allies.

Alliance member and factional leader, Mohammed Qanyare Afrah, says that his group has proof of foreign fighter presence in Mogadishu.

"The coalition⁸ has a video cassette [that] shows Arabs, Pakistanis, and Afghans fighting," said Qanyare Afrah.

VOA was not able to view the video tape, but was allowed to see a series of still photographs of fighters the alliance says were non-Somalis.

One photograph showed a light-skinned man, whose face was partially⁹ covered with a checkered¹⁰ scarf, making it impossible to guess his ethnic¹¹ make-up. A much darker-skinned man, whose face was uncovered, was described as being a militant fighter from Sudan.

Mahad Elmi is a broadcaster for the local radio station, Horn Afrique. He says even suspected foreign fighters who were killed have never been positively¹² identified as being non-Somalis.

"We, as journalists, have tried to even get bodies of fighters," said Mahad Elmi. "We go even to hospitals to find out, are they Somalis? Are they Pakistanis? Are they Oromo or are they Sudanese? We do not have any evidence."

In an interview with VOA, the chairman of the Islamic law courts in Mogadishu, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, accused the anti-terror group of lying to western countries, and to the United States in particular, about the courts' members and their activities.

Ahmed says talk of foreign fighters is pure propaganda. He says the whole thing is an attempt by factional leaders in the so-called anti-terror alliance to persuade the United States to give them more money.

Ahmed is referring to the widely-held belief here that the United States is paying the alliance large sums of cash to help track down and apprehend¹³ al-Qaida operatives in Somalia. 

Mohammed Qanyare Afrah
(File photo)   
  
Alliance members flatly deny they are receiving funding from Washington. Mohammed Qanyare Afrah says his group is fighting terrorism on principle, not for pay.

"We are not working for anybody," said Mohammed Qanyare Afrah. "The U.S. is not involved in the war in Mogadishu."

But militias belonging to alliance members have been seen in recent weeks, brandishing¹⁴ brand new AK-47 assault rifles. They also appear to have new stockpiles of ammunition¹⁵, convincing many ordinary Somalis that the United States is using secular factional militias to fight a proxy¹⁶ war against the Islamic courts.

U.S. officials have not said whether the United States has a specific relationship with the alliance.

But officials have voiced concern that the Islamic courts could be harboring al-Qaida members and sympathizers and the country may be attracting a large number of Muslim extremists.

The Islamic law courts began establishing themselves across Somalia more than a decade ago as clan-based institutions. They were designed to bring order and security to a country that had descended¹⁷ into anarchy¹⁸ and factional warfare¹⁹ after the fall of Somali dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.

Numerous efforts to unify²⁰ the courts failed and since last year, the court in Mogadishu has largely dominated the others.

The United States fears Islamic court leaders are committed to setting up a fundamentalist Islamic government in Somalia, similar to what the Taliban established in Afghanistan before the group was deposed²¹ in 2001.

Islamic leaders in Mogadishu portray²² their courts as the only option Somalia has for getting rid of the country's hated factional leaders once and for all and bringing peace to the country under Islamic rule.

But many moderate Muslims in the capital say they question the Islamic courts' true intentions.

The supreme²³ spiritual leader of the Islamic courts, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is believed to be sympathetic to al-Qaida and has allegedly set up a number of schools in Mogadishu, where boys and young men are being given training in using weapons and explosives.

The anti-terror alliance also accuses the sheikh of receiving money and arms from al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

Sheikh Hassan's nephew, Aden Hashi Ayro, is a well-known militia² leader, who is said to have received terrorist training in Afghanistan and is suspected of being behind a string of bombings and assassinations²⁴ in the past year.

The alliance suffered major setbacks in recent days, losing key territories to Islamic militias. But alliance leaders say they will not surrender.

With both warring sides in Mogadishu allegedly receiving money to fight each other, Somalis say the fighting could continue indefinitely. And they say if there are no foreign fighters in their country now, there is no guarantee that they will not be here tomorrow.

1 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

2 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。

3 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

4 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。

5 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

6 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。

7 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

8 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

9 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

10 checkered   

adj.有方格图案的

参考例句：

• The ground under the trees was checkered with sunlight and shade.林地光影交错。
• He’d had a checkered past in the government.他过去在政界浮沉。

11 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。

12 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

13 apprehend   

vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑

参考例句：

• I apprehend no worsening of the situation.我不担心局势会恶化。
• Police have not apprehended her killer.警察还未抓获谋杀她的凶手。

14 brandishing   

v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀

参考例句：

• The horseman came up to Robin Hood, brandishing his sword. 那个骑士挥舞着剑，来到罗宾汉面前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He appeared in the lounge brandishing a knife. 他挥舞着一把小刀，出现在休息室里。 来自辞典例句

15 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。

16 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

17 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

18 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

19 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

20 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。

21 deposed   

v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证

参考例句：

• The president was deposed in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被废黜。
• The head of state was deposed by the army. 国家元首被军队罢免了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

23 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

24 assassinations   

n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most anarchist assassinations were bungled because of haste or spontaneity, in his view. 在他看来，无政府主义者搞的许多刺杀都没成功就是因为匆忙和自发行动。 来自辞典例句
• Assassinations by Israelis of alleged terrorists habitually kill nearby women and children. 在以色列，自称恐怖分子的炸弹自杀者杀害靠近自己的以色列妇女和儿童。 来自互联网