2007年VOA标准英语-Formers Members of Radical Somali Group Give De

By Alisha Ryu
Mogadishu
06 January 2007

Before the Islamists lost power in much of southern Somalia earlier this month, the least known but most feared organization in the country was a radical¹ Muslim group called the Shabbab, which means "youth" in Arabic.  VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu in Mogadishu interviewed two former Shabbab members, who do not know each other but who revealed similar details about Shabbab never told before to Western media.  

Somalis tell VOA that during the Islamist's six-month rule from the capital Mogadishu, a mere² glimpse of a Shabbab member wearing the tell-tale, red-and-white scarf around the head or neck, caused ordinary people to flee in terror.

They knew few facts about how the group was organized or functioned, but many had heard about Shabbab's founding in mid-2004 as a homegrown extremist organization that recruited young men to wage a violent holy war, or jihad, against the enemies of Islam.

A former Shabbab fighter identified only as Abdi, 18, tells VOA that the group's leaders were careful in selecting their recruits.

Abdi says before Shabbab leaders accepted anyone into the group, they conducted extensive and thorough background checks to make sure he was not a spy.

The Shabbab's call to fight for Islam also included the call to fight for Somali sovereignty and for self-dignity. 

To another former Shabbab an unemployed³ member, who identifies himself only as Hassan, 27, it was a call that he and many other poor, disillusioned⁴, and disenfranchised Somali men found hard to ignore.

Hassan says he joined the Shabbab with hundreds of others in June of this year, shortly after Islamist forces captured the capital from factional leaders.   

Hassan describes how Shabbab leaders took him to a former police station-turned-training camp called Fish Trafico, one of a half a dozen training camps that the Shabbab had established in and around Mogadishu.

At the camps, new recruits were divided into small groups. Each group had to complete a grueling, six-week fitness program, designed to strengthen endurance and improve running, crawling, and jumping skills. 

Learning to shoot accurately⁵ on the run was the final lesson.  Hassan says those who performed well overall were sent to front lines to battle Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies.

Hassan also confirms Ethiopian and government claims that Islamist leaders had incorporated foreign Muslim fighters among the ranks of its militia⁶.

Hassan was in a unit stationed near the town of Bur Hakaba, just a few dozen kilometers from the seat of Somalia's Ethiopian-backed interim⁷ government and where one of the first major battles took place in December. 

Hassan says about 25 Arabs fought alongside him and other Shabbab members there.  He says he does not know from which countries the Arabs had come, but Hassan says all of them spoke⁸ reasonable amounts of Somali.

Not every Shabbab recruit was sent to the front lines immediately after basic training. 

Abdi says he performed so well in boot camp that he and several hundred other standout students were flown to Eritrea and given an additional two-month advance training in explosives and guerrilla war fighting tactics. 

Abdi says he and the others were given detailed⁹ instructions on how to make roadside bombs, car bombs, and suicide vests, using explosives material cannibalized from various weapon systems. He says his instructors¹⁰ were a mix of Somalis and Eritreans.

Hassan tells VOA that even though he was not selected to go to Eritrea, the Shabbab men who did go shared what had they had learned with every Shabbab member when they returned to Mogadishu.     

The information about Eritrea partly confirms a recent U.N. report that accused Ethiopia's archrival in the Horn of being one of seven countries in Africa and the Middle East that had provided fighters, weapons, training, and logistics support to Somalia's Islamist movement.  The report has fueled fears that the Somali conflict could widen into a proxy¹¹ war between Addis Ababa and Asmara.

What is still not clear is just how many men were members of the Shabbab group, when the Islamist movement collapsed¹² late last month.  Estimates range from 3,000 to 7,000 men.

Most Somalis are Muslim, but they have traditionally rejected ultra-conservative forms of Islam.

Hassan says some young Somalis flocked to join the Shabbab, partly because they were impressed by the personal charisma¹³ of the group's founder¹⁴, Adan Hashi Ayro, a father-like figure who spent most of the 1990s in terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

Hassan says he believes Ayro is a true holy warrior¹⁵, who inspired hope and encouraged Somalis to defend their religion and their country against Ethiopia.  He says Ayro was also a kind man, who fed Shabbab members, gave each of them a monthly salary of $70, and looked after the well-being¹⁶ of each member.

The United States and its allies have a very different view of Ayro.  Ayro, who was the Islamists' top military commander, is accused of harboring three al-Qaida operatives who carried out the 1998 attacks against two American embassies in East Africa.

As Ethiopian and Somali government troops advanced on the capital on December 27, Ayro and several hundred members of his Shabbab inner circle fled Mogadishu with Ayro's long-time mentor¹⁷ and the head of the Islamist movement, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys.

Aweys has long been on a U.S. list of suspected terrorists.  Both of the leaders are now believed holed up in an Islamist stronghold near Somalia's southern border with Kenya.  At least two of the al-Qaida operatives are believed to be with them.

A massive hunt by Ethiopian and Somali forces is under way to capture the operatives and their allies.

1 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

2 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

3 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

4 disillusioned   

a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

参考例句：

• I soon became disillusioned with the job. 我不久便对这个工作不再抱幻想了。
• Many people who are disillusioned in reality assimilate life to a dream. 许多对现实失望的人把人生比作一场梦。

5 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

6 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。

7 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。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

10 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

11 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。

12 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。

13 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。

14 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

15 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

16 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

17 mentor   

n.指导者，良师益友；v.指导

参考例句：

• He fed on the great ideas of his mentor.他以他导师的伟大思想为支撑。
• He had mentored scores of younger doctors.他指导过许多更年轻的医生。