VOA常速英语2007年-Rights Group Urges Sudan to Halt Darfur Camp Ev

By Derek Kilner
Nairobi
01 November 2007

The international organization Human Rights Watch is calling on the Sudanese government to put an end to forcibly relocating people displaced by conflict in the Western region of Darfur. As Derek Kilner reports from VOA's East Africa Bureau in Nairobi, the United Nations has accused Sudanese police of forcibly moving displaced people from a camp in South Darfur.

According to U.N. officials, Sudanese police on Sunday relocated a number of displaced people from the Otash refugee camp near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. The U.N.'s top humanitarian¹ official, John Holmes, said that the security forces were using sticks and rubber hoses to round up camp residents.

Human Rights Watch reported yesterday that at least 400 families have been moved from Otash camp and another site nearby. The people who were moved had reportedly fled from the Kalma camp, the largest in Darfur with roughly 90,000 people, following an earlier outbreak of violence.

The Sudanese government has argued that the displaced camps should be closed because they are too dangerous and too dirty. But officials deny that they are forcing people to leave.

A Darfur researcher for Human Rights Watch in London, Selena Brewer², says that the Sudanese government has made similar attempts to close the Kalma camp in the past.

"Well the government's been saying for a long time that they don't want Kalma camp to carry on as it is," she said. "This first started in 2005. There was a similar attempt to forcibly remove people from the camp and there was international outcry at the time and it did come to a halt but then again six months later the government was exerting pressure by putting a commercial ban on the market and on people bringing food and other goods into the camp. Their claim is that they have to close it for either military reasons or public health reasons. But there's no reason to believe that those claims are justified³."

There are an estimated 2.5 million displaced people in Darfur. Many camps are located near major towns like Nyala, and groups like Human Rights Watch accuse the government of trying to move displaced people to locations that are more remote and less secure.

Holmes says that involuntary relocation violates a memorandum⁴ of understanding signed between the Sudanese government and the United Nations in 2004.

Brewer says her organization fears that the government will continue to attempt to move people from the camps.

"Our biggest fear is that this is going to continue," she said. "Even if it doesn't continue in the next week there is obviously a pattern here. It happens once, there's outcry, they stop trying to move people for a few months, then they try a new method of pressure"

Meanwhile, peace negotiations⁵ between the government and Darfur rebels opened in Libya on Saturday. But with many of the key rebel leaders declining to attend, the talks have so far accomplished⁶ little.

1 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。

2 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

3 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

4 memorandum   

n.备忘录，便笺

参考例句：

• The memorandum was dated 23 August,2008.备忘录上注明的日期是2008年8月23日。
• The Secretary notes down the date of the meeting in her memorandum book.秘书把会议日期都写在记事本上。

5 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。

6 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。