2007年VOA标准英语-Guinea's Defense Minister Tries to Bring Soldie

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
06 June 2007

Guinea's new defense¹ minister is touring barracks across the West African nation for a second time since his appointment.  He was named last month to help quell² unrest caused by disgruntled soldiers.  VOA's Nico Colombant reports from our regional bureau in Dakar.

The new Guinean Defense minister, General Bailo Diallo, attends an oath-taking ceremony 14 May 2007 in the capital Conakry following days of deadly strike and violence in Guinea

General Mamadou Bailo Diallo has been calling on soldiers to behave as if they are part of a republican army, rather than bandits.

He says they should excuse themselves for the unrest they caused, and start changing their attitude.

He is making these comments directly to soldiers during a weeklong tour, visiting different garrisons³, including those along the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone.

During riots over unpaid⁴ wages in May, soldiers left a dozen people dead, when they shot guns in the air and at passers-by, while ransacking⁵ homes and looting.

They also stole some weapons, which some civilians⁶ complain they have now been using for petty crime.

A West Africa-based analyst⁷ with Human Rights Watch, Dustin Sharp, says the soldiers' main grievance⁸, the back pay owed them, remains⁹.

"I do not know that concretely that any of those promises have been met," he said.  "Over the last couple of months, on numerous occasions, salary increases, and grade increases, and so on have been promised. It is usually enough to increase someone's grade, but coming up with the money in state coffers to increase salaries on a sustained basis is challenging."

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A Guinean solder (file photo 20 Feb 2007)

Sharp says civilians, led by union leaders, have also been rising up against the government, forcing the appointment of a new consensus¹² prime minister, Lansana Kouyate, following repeated protests earlier this year.

"The soldiers, they are not in a different lot than other government employees in Guinea. Teachers are poorly paid. Doctors are poorly paid. Nurses are poorly paid.
Government workers in general are poorly paid.  What makes the military situation so dangerous is that soldiers have AK-47s and teachers do not," he added.  "So I think the most important thing right now is that the Guinean military exercise a little bit of patience in understanding their lot cannot be significantly improved unless the economic circumstances that are causing misery¹³ all over Guinea are improved globally. That is going to take some time."

Sharp says many civilians are suspicious the army will just fight for their own interests.

"It is a dangerous situation for the country to be in," he explained.  "The prime minister and his new government have many competing needs to stabilize¹⁴ and they have very little financial means to do it. And I think there is a real continuing risk that the military could play the role of spoiler in the progress we have seen so far this year."

Much of the power in Guinea including over the military, resides with ailing¹⁵, diabetic, President Lansana Conte, in power since a coup¹⁰ in 1984.

When facing unrest, Mr. Conte has increasingly relied on crackdowns by the republican guard, led by one of his sons.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 quell   

v.压制，平息，减轻

参考例句：

• Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
• The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。

3 garrisons   

守备部队，卫戍部队( garrison的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I've often seen pictures of such animals at the garrisons. 在要塞里，我经常看到这种动物的画片。
• Use a Black Hand to garrisons, and take it for yourself. 用黑手清空驻守得步兵，为自己占一个。

4 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

5 ransacking   

v.彻底搜查( ransack的现在分词 )；抢劫，掠夺

参考例句：

• She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present. 她正在彻底搜寻各家店铺，为吉姆买礼物。 来自英汉文学 - 欧亨利
• Ransacking the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded, tiny, ragged handkerchief. 他打开橱柜抽屉搜寻，找到了一块弃置的小旧手帕。 来自辞典例句

6 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。

7 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。

8 grievance   

n.怨愤，气恼，委屈

参考例句：

• He will not easily forget his grievance.他不会轻易忘掉他的委屈。
• He had been nursing a grievance against his boss for months.几个月来他对老板一直心怀不满。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 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。

11 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。

12 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

13 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

14 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

15 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。