2007年VOA标准英语-New US Military Command for Africa Focuses on P

By Malcolm Brown
Djibouti
09 May 2007
 

Djibouti and U.S. flags

The United States is moving ahead with a new military command structure for Africa, consolidating¹ all U.S. activity on the continent.  Africa Command will not be complete until late next year (last quarter of 2008), but Pentagon officials say there are no plans to send in any additional combat units.  The 1700 American troops now in Djibouti work on training, security and humanitarian² projects.  Malcolm Brown visited the U.S. force on the Horn of Africa and has this report.

Djibouti

Close to important sea lanes, including the Suez Canal and Persian Gulf³ oil routes, the small east African nation of Djibouti benefits economically from its strategic location.

This predominantly Muslim country of fewer than a million people also has become a key security partner of the United States.

The U.S. military has been in east Africa on counterterrorism duty since al-Qaida's attacks on New York and Washington nearly six years ago.  What the Americans learn in this region is expected to help shape the new Africa Command.

Rear Admiral Timothy Moon is deputy commander of the current U.S. task force in Djibouti. He said, "A lot of things we've done can be viewed as a test bed for processes and concepts that they could put into action over the entire continent."

The task force focuses heavily on humanitarian work, such as building or upgrading medical clinics and schools in Djibouti as well as other countries in the region.

Command Chief Master Sergeant⁴ John Harris says the troops go beyond the traditional military role. "A lot of what we do is probably similar to what you read about in Iraq, [or] in Afghanistan, after the fighting is over and it is calmed down.  It's helping⁵ that nation rebuild."

Unlike in Iraq or Afghanistan, this nation-building in Djibouti does not follow war.  In fact, it is designed to prevent conflict, in large part by addressing widespread poverty.

In a country where most of the land is harsh desert, with few natural resources, the average annual income is about $1,000.

So, U.S. troops have turned into aid workers. Even military chaplains are involved, by reaching out to local religious leaders.

Chaplain Robert O'Dell said, "We don't focus on the fact that you're Muslim, or Christian⁶, or Catholic, or another faith group, but rather how we can work together to partner, to have a common goal -- and that is to take care of the communities in which they serve."

Another way to promote stability is by upgrading local soldiers' skills. Major John Hill plans military training programs in Djibouti.

"We want them to be able to teach themselves how to train what we have taught them.  Our goal is to professionalize that army or that unit that comes in, so that we, in turn, can let them go and pass that knowledge on their units and their soldiers across the country."

If Africa Command ever has to go beyond training and take direct military action in Africa, there will be inevitable⁷ echoes of the ill-fated American intervention⁸ in Somalia in the early 1990s.

According to one prominent critic of U.S. African policy, Washington's more recent actions in Somalia are already undoing⁹ the good works of the troops in Djibouti.  John Prendergast is senior adviser¹⁰ to the International Crisis Group.

"You can't sit there and analyze¹¹ only what the right hand is doing when the left hand has got a whole other agenda,” says Prendergast. “We're firing rockets into southern Somalia in the middle of this invasion by the Ethiopians.  We can't then point to all the nice wells we built last year.  People don't care.  They see the United States once again attacking a Muslim country, looking out for number one and its interest."

For its part, the Pentagon hopes that its new command structure will ensure that the military and diplomatic arms of the U.S. government are pulling in the same direction.

Rear Admiral Timothy Moon says this is the biggest lesson the U.S. military has learned on the Horn of Africa. "The United States really has to have an interagency effort, really bring all the elements of national power to bear.  And this is everything: diplomacy¹², military, economic.  And until we do that, we're going to be hard pressed to achieve the objectives over here."

1 consolidating   

v.（使）巩固， （使）加强( consolidate的现在分词 )；（使）合并

参考例句：

• These measures are meant for consolidating the system of basic medical care. 这些举措旨在夯实基层医疗体系，让老百姓看大病不必出远门。 来自互联网
• We are consolidating the Chinese and English versions of our homepage. 我们将为您提供中英文版本一起的主页。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

4 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

8 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

9 undoing   

n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭

参考例句：

• That one mistake was his undoing. 他一失足即成千古恨。
• This hard attitude may have led to his undoing. 可能就是这种强硬的态度导致了他的垮台。

10 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

11 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

12 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。