VOA常速英语2007年-Sudanese, South African Presidents Discuss Darf

By VOA News
Johannesburg
06 November 2007

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and South African President Thabo Mbeki have been holding talks in Capetown to discuss the deteriorating¹ situation in Darfur and the deployment² of additional peacekeeping troops there. Sudanese officials want South Africa to contribute troops to the force. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from Johannesburg.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South African President Thabo Mbeki held talks Tuesday on efforts to speed up deployment of international peacekeepers to the troubled Darfur region in western Sudan.

Mr. Bashir's advisor³, Mustafa Ismail, told national radio that Sudan has accepted a combined force of troops from the African Union and the United Nations. But he indicated his government prefers soldiers primarily from African countries.

"Currently now we have 7,000 African troops. We need to increase them up to 26,000. Sudan wants South Africa to increase the number of South African soldiers in Darfur," said Ismail.

Officially, South Africa has not sent any troops to Sudan. It says its forces are stretched thin by contributions to peacekeeping missions in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Reconciliation⁴ efforts in Sudan have been plagued by problems.

Peace talks on Darfur recently stalled when several rebel groups refused to attend reconciliation talks in Libya.

In addition, former southern rebels last month withdrew from the government in Khartoum accusing it of failing to implement⁵ a power sharing agreement by delaying the withdrawal⁶ of government troops from their oil-rich region.

Mr. Mbeki played an important role in forging a peace accord in 2005 that ended the 21-year civil war in southern Sudan.

The southern civil war killed an estimated two million people and made four million homeless.

International mediators say they hope to forge an accord in Darfur where 200,000 people have died and more than two million have been displaced.

A coalition⁷ of 180 religious and human rights groups Monday called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council saying the lack of progress in the Darfur peace negotiations⁸ was leading to an escalation⁹ of violence.

The Sudanese government has reacted by saying that the latest difficulties are primarily technical.

1 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

2 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。

3 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

4 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

5 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

6 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

7 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。

8 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。

9 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句