2007年VOA标准英语-UN Begins Checking Age of Maoist Fighters in Ea

By Liam Cochrane
Kathmandu
19 June 2007

registration1 of Maoist army personnel today in Ilam, 19 June 2007" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070628/1520210.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Commencement of the second phase of registration of Maoist army personnel in Ilam, 19 June 2007

The United Nations has begun checking the age and date of recruitment of Maoist fighters in a camp in eastern Nepal. The verification is part of the ongoing² peace process between the government and former Maoist rebels and is now going smoothly³ after twice being postponed⁴ by the Maoists. Liam Cochrane reports from Kathmandu.

More than 3,000 Maoist fighters gathered in a rain-soaked camp in the far eastern district of Ilam to be interviewed by a team of 120 U.N. experts.
 
After signing a peace deal in November, the Maoists registered 31,000 fighters in seven camps across the country and locked up almost 3,000 weapons.
 
But there have been claims from human rights groups that the Maoist forces include child soldiers and people recruited after the peace deal was struck. 

The verification process was meant to start last week, but was postponed after several Maoists were murdered in southern Nepal.
 
The spokesman for the U.N. Mission in Nepal, Kieran Dwyer, says that despite the late start, the interviews are going well.

"The head arms monitor, General (Jan-Erik) Willemson flew by helicopter with the senior Maoist commander, 'Pasang', to make sure they witnessed the beginning of this process so it had the full support of the Maoist leadership and it went very smoothly," Dwyer said.
 
Dwyer said the U.N. would check all seven Maoist camps in Nepal, beginning in the east and moving west. But he said it was too soon to tell how long the whole verification process might take. 

"We think about the end of this first week we'll have an idea of how complicated the process is," Dwyer said.  "You'll understand it's one-on-one interviews…  to test the information that the registered personnel have given - to make sure that they are over the age of 18 at May 2006 and joined the Maoist army before that time."

Human Rights Watch has said thousands of child soldiers remain in the Maoist's ranks, but the former rebels say all their fighters are over 18.

1 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

2 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

3 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

4 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。