2007年VOA标准英语-Somalia Far From Stable as Ethiopian Troops Ret

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
30 January 2007

Former diplomats¹ and Horn of Africa experts are warning that U.S.-led efforts to stabilize² Somalia through the deployment³ of an African peacekeeping force are likely to backfire, unless the country's weak and fractured interim⁴ government can first be transformed into a credible⁵ representative government of national unity⁶. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu has the story from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.

 
Ethiopian troops stand at attention during flag ceremony at Mogadishu airport as they prepare to withdraw from Somalia, 23 Jan 2007
Last week, the commander of the Ethiopian army in Somalia, Seon Hugos, told reporters in Mogadishu that some of his troops had begun leaving the Somali capital to return home. The general said he had been ordered by the government in Addis Ababa to withdraw because the army has completed its mission in Somalia.

That mission was to help Somalia's secular-but-weak transitional federal government, known as the TFG, re-take Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia from fundamental Islamist leaders who had ruled for nearly seven months before being chased out of power a month ago.

Ethiopia is believed to have tens of thousands of troops in Somalia.

A former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, David Shinn, tells VOA that while the initial troop pull-out by Ethiopia appears to be limited to about a third of its forces, it believes it has little choice but to begin reducing its military presence in Somalia.

"One, it is getting to be very costly⁷ to maintain troops there and, two, I think they understand that the longer the Ethiopian troops remain inside Somalia, the more animosity it creates with Somalis," he said.

For the past month, Ethiopian troops, particularly in Mogadishu, have come under near-daily attacks by Somalis who view Ethiopia as a traditional enemy to resist at all costs.

But neighboring and western countries say they are worried that remnants of the Islamic Courts Union and their supporters could stage a comeback without a robust⁸ military to defend the transitional government.

A senior analyst⁹ for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, Dave Mazursky, says the international community, which supports the two-year-old interim government, has reasons to be concerned.

 
Interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (R) withPM Ali Mohamed Gedi in Mogadishu, 9 Jan 2007
The transitional government was largely formed among factional leaders who kept Somalia lawless and without a functioning government for more than 15 years. Mazursky says top government leaders, including President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, are still deeply split along clan¹⁰ lines and have shown little enthusiasm to be inclusive and to broaden the government's appeal.

"The conditions that led to the rise of the courts in the first place are already re-creating themselves," he said. "And by that, I mean a very splintered and divided government with international legitimacy¹¹ and recognition, but lacking the capacity and credibility to really administer on the ground. Without dealing¹² with the more fundamental problems of governance of the country as the first and key step, then, conditions will be set for an opposition¹³ to emerge."

U.S. officials say they are most worried that despite two separate air strikes in the past month, they have failed to kill any of the radical¹⁴ Islamist leaders and their al-Qaida allies, who fled to the south of the country before the Ethiopians arrived in Mogadishu.

Moreover, several thousand members of their once-powerful Islamist militia¹⁵ remain in the capital and elsewhere in the country, seething¹⁶ with anger and resentment¹⁷.

To stabilize Somalia, the United States has begun intensively lobbying members of the 53-member African Union to contribute troops toward a peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu. The force, to be deployed¹⁸ as soon as possible, is to be about 8,000-strong with a mission mandate¹⁹ of six months.

At the same time, the United States has offered to give $40 million, mostly in humanitarian²⁰ aid, to the interim government. The condition is that government leaders must show real progress toward neutralizing²¹ factional leaders and building a government that includes all elements of Somali society, including Islamists who opposed them.

International Crisis Group's Dave Mazursky says while he agrees with the United States' dual-track approach to Somalia, he says the priority being given to the peacekeeping mission is potentially dangerous.

"A peacekeeping force there to support the TFG is only going to have as much credibility as the TFG has," he said. "So, if the TFG is able to rebuild itself as a representative government of national unity, then the African Union peacekeeping force is going to have an important role to play. If the TFG fails to do that, then the African Union peacekeeping force will be seen as a partisan²² external body and will, with time, be seen as an invasion force by those opposed to the TFG."

Ambassador David Shinn says he agrees that the United States first needs to focus its attention on ways to increase Somali support for the interim government.

"I think the United States is working very hard to get an African Union force in Mogadishu," he said. "That is all well and good. But it is just not going to happen as fast as it needs to happen, and I think the United States should recognize that fact. The real effort now needs to be about expanding the credibility of the transitional federal government and making sure it takes the right steps in order to create a government that is more inclusive than it is at the moment."

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Ethiopian army in Somalia is being debilitated²³ by malaria²⁴ and losing its ability to maintain its supply lines into the country.

Worried Somali government officials say Ethiopia's exit from their country could come not in months, but in weeks.

1 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

3 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

4 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。

5 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

6 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

11 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 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。

14 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。

15 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。

16 seething   

沸腾的，火热的

参考例句：

• The stadium was a seething cauldron of emotion. 体育场内群情沸腾。
• The meeting hall was seething at once. 会场上顿时沸腾起来了。

17 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

18 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

19 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

20 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

21 neutralizing   

v.使失效( neutralize的现在分词 )；抵消；中和；使（一个国家）中立化

参考例句：

• This juice-about a quart a day--pours into my duodenum, neutralizing acids. 这种消化液（每天约分泌1品脱）流入我的十二指肠，把酸中和了。 来自辞典例句
• AIM: To verify the role of a synthetic peptide in neutralizing endotoxins. 目的：检验一条合成肽在中和内毒素活性方面的作用。 来自互联网

22 partisan   

adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒

参考例句：

• In their anger they forget all the partisan quarrels.愤怒之中，他们忘掉一切党派之争。
• The numerous newly created partisan detachments began working slowly towards that region.许多新建的游击队都开始慢慢地向那里移动。

23 debilitated   

adj.疲惫不堪的，操劳过度的v.使（人或人的身体）非常虚弱( debilitate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Prolonged strike action debilitated the industry. 长时间的罢工削弱了这个行业的活力。
• This is especially important when dealing with the geriatric or debilitated patient. 这对老年和虚弱病人尤其重要。 来自互联网

24 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。