2007年VOA标准英语-Helicopter Shot Down in Somalia

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
30 March 2007

In the Somali capital, Mogadishu, insurgents² shot down an Ethiopian helicopter on Friday, as vicious fighting continued for a second day against an Ethiopian-led security crackdown in the city. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.

For the second time in a week, the spokesman of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu, Captain Paddy Ankunda, confirmed the crash of an aircraft near the capital city's main airport.

"We can confirm it was brought down, but we do not know how," said Ankunda. "We are trying to secure the ground where it crashed. It was near Mogadishu International Airport."

Witnesses say they saw the Ethiopian attack helicopter getting hit by ground fire, just before it fell out of the sky and exploded. Last Friday, a cargo³ plane, carrying aviation experts and technicians from Belarus, crashed after being similarly hit during take-off. All 11 people on board were killed.

Both aircraft are believed to have been hit by anti-aircraft missiles.

Sources in Mogadishu tell VOA that two other Ethiopian helicopters were hit by small arms fire on Thursday, but they were able to fly back to base.

Friday's crash came amid intense fighting that began on Thursday, after Ethiopian troops in tanks and helicopters launched a major security sweep of insurgent¹ strongholds in the city.

Insurgents in Mogadishu are thought to be mainly from the dominant⁴ Hawiye clan⁵, who oppose Somalia's Ethiopian-backed interim⁶ President Abdullahi Yusuf and his government.

Hawiye clan members accuse the leader, among other things, of using his long-time ally, Ethiopia, to weaken and sideline the Hawiye in favor of his own clan, the Darod.

A Hawiye clan member in Mogadishu, Sheik Hassan Osman, tells VOA that the battles have spread to more areas of the city because many more Hawiye men, angered by Ethiopia's aggressive push to disarm⁷ the city, have taken up arms.

"It is not fighting between Hawiye and Darod, but militias⁸ from Hawiye and Ethiopian troops," he said. "All towns [are] fighting now."

VOA has learned that in recent days, hundreds of Hawiye fighters have been pouring into Mogadishu from other regions of Somalia.

It is estimated that Ethiopian troops, who helped the interim government take power from Somalia's Islamic Courts Union three months ago, are facing nearly 15,000 fighters or potential fighters in Mogadishu. Sources tell VOA that number could double in the coming days.

Aid workers in Mogadishu say hundreds of people have been killed and wounded in the past two days. But many of the wounded cannot get to a hospital because of the fighting.

Hundreds more are reportedly fleeing the city, adding to more than 40,000 of its residents who have left since early February because of escalating⁹ violence.

1 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

2 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

3 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

4 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

5 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。

6 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。

7 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

8 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

9 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句