VOA常速英语2007年-Ivory Coast President, Prime Minister Talk Ahea

By Naomi Schwarz
Dakar
27 November 2007

Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo and rebel leader-turned-Prime Minister Guillaume Soro have met in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou as part of efforts to reunite their divided country. Earlier in the week, the process hit a snag over the crucial issue of who will supervise the issuing of identity cards. For VOA, Naomi Schwarz has more from our West Africa bureau in Dakar.

Burkina Faso's president, Blaise Compaore, was at the airport to welcome Ivory Coast's president and prime minister as they arrived Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Compaore brokered¹ the peace talks that led to the Ouagadougou Accords the Ivorian leaders signed in March.

Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Soro have returned to Burkina Faso to hammer out further details in the peace process.

Early stages have included the creation of mobile courts to register people born in Ivory Coast but lacking official papers.

Gilles Yabi, an analyst² for the International Crisis Group, says the next steps are absolutely crucial, and somewhat contentious³.

"But very clearly now we are approaching the very key issues. The question of the mobile courts was just a very small step in the whole process," said Yabi. "Now we are talking about the process of identification, which will have electoral consequences because it will end up in a change in the list of electors in the whole country. So this is a very sensitive issue and it was clear that it will not be easy to find an agreement to push in this process."

The question of who gets an Ivorian ID card is central to the conflict. Rebels say they are fighting for millions of northerners who deserve Ivorian nationality. Supporters of Mr. Gbagbo say very few of them qualify.

Last week, disagreement about who would oversee⁴ the process of issuing ID cards led Mr. Gbagbo's ally, Interior Minister Desire Tagro, to walk out of talks. Tagro said his ministry⁵ has the authority to supervise the process, but Mr. Soro's camp says it is the prime minister's responsibility.

The Crisis Group's Yabi says such disagreements are expected and are not likely to derail the peace agreement. He says Mr. Gbagbo and Mr. Soro's meeting in Ouagadougou is designed to reassure⁶ Ivorians the two are still working to find solutions.

And he says Mr. Gbagbo's planned visit to northern Ivory Coast is a powerful symbolic⁷ event.

"It will not mark an advance in the implementation⁸ of the Ouagadougou agreement, but it is just an additional sign of low tension in the country, and it can be important for the population of the north to see some concrete action, to see that there is the possibility for normalization⁹ of daily life," added Yabi.

This is the first time Mr. Gbagbo will penetrate¹⁰ so far into the country's north. His only other visit since the conflict erupted in 2002, was to rebel headquarters in the city of Bouake in July.

Some Ivorians are skeptical¹¹ about the visit. One opposition¹² newspaper ran the headline, "Seven Years of Terror, Three Days of Charm," saying a three-day visit cannot undo¹³ the harm caused by seven years of Mr. Gbagbo's presidency¹⁴.

Opponents of the president say he is making the trip purely¹⁵ to gain political capital ahead of scheduled elections.

Mr. Gbagbo says he has many opponents because he has tried to expand the economy beyond traditional trading partners, like the former colonial power France.

1 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

2 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。

3 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

4 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

7 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

8 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

9 normalization   

n.（normalisation）正常化，标准化

参考例句：

• The visit signalled the normalization of relations between the two countries.这次访问显示两国关系已经正常化。
• He was pleased to the normalization of relationship between the police and the people.他很高兴警方和人民之间关系的正常化。

10 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

11 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

12 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。

13 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

14 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

15 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。