2007年VOA标准英语-Guinea's Military Intensifies Protest

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
11 May 2007

The presidential guard in Guinea blocked hundreds of soldiers from marching on the presidential palace in Conakry Friday.  The soldiers are demanding back pay and calling on top military officials to resign. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from our West Africa bureau in Dakar.

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A Guinean solder (file photo 20 Feb 2007)

Banks and shops quickly closed in the center of the capital, while residents fled the area. 

Trucks full of soldiers, as well as soldiers on foot, headed toward the presidential palace in the early afternoon.

Journalist Maseco Conde, on the scene, said the soldiers were initially² blocked by presidential guards.

Earlier in the day, negotiators for the soldiers met with Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate and demanded that military commanders be replaced.

Mr. Kouyate has been meeting with President Lansana Conte, but the angry soldiers have said they want to meet the president directly.

In another night of rioting Thursday, soldiers outside their barracks, all across the country, shot in the air.  In the early morning hours Friday, two civilians³ were reported killed by stray bullets in the town of Kindia, east of Conakry.

The soldiers began their protest earlier this month, with nightly rampages of shooting and looting.  They are demanding back pay they say they are owed since 1996.

Mr. Kouyate was recently named prime minister after a long strike by union leaders against government incompetence⁴ and corruption⁵.

President Conte has been in power since a coup⁶ in 1984, despite his ailing⁷ health.

1 solder   

v.焊接，焊在一起；n.焊料，焊锡

参考例句：

• Fewer workers are needed to solder circuit boards.焊接电路板需要的工人更少了。
• He cuts the pieces and solders them together.他把那些断片切碎，然后把它们焊在一起。

2 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

3 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

4 incompetence   

n.不胜任，不称职

参考例句：

• He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。
• She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence. 她觉得，本是老板无能，但她却成了替罪羊。

5 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

6 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

7 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。