2007年VOA标准英语-Kenyan Police Probing Links Between Politicians

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
26 June 2007

Police in Kenya are reportedly investigating possible links between politicians and an armed youth group discovered last week undergoing military training in a forest near the coastal¹ city of Mombasa. The police believe the men were preparing to cause violence and chaos² in coastal areas ahead of Kenya's presidential elections in December. VOA correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Media reports in Kenya say the police have a list of politicians, who are being investigated in connection to the activities of a little-known group called the Mombasa Republican Council.

Kenyan police spokesman, Eric Kiraithe, declined to comment on the investigations³. But he warned that any politician found to be funding the group and inciting⁴ its members to take up arms will be arrested.

"What we are saying, as the police, is pursue political issues politically," said Kiraithe. "Do not take a bunch of young men and take them to the forest. You have broken the laws of this country and we shall arrest you and take you to be prosecuted⁵."

Last week, the police raided a dense⁶ forest near the resort town of Diani, where police say they found more than 100 Republican Council members receiving military-style training.

Dozens of members, armed with machetes, attacked the police, wounding two officers. The police killed one man and arrested 25 others, including two witch doctors. The rest of the group escaped into the forest.

 

The police believe the Mombasa Republican Council has about 800 militant⁷ members, whose goal is to take over a 16-kilometer strip of the Kenyan coast by force and secede⁸ from the country.

Police investigators⁹ say the men in the forest were being specifically trained to raid local police stations and steal weapons.

A member of the Republican Council, Mwakombo Mwaduzuya, describes the group as a movement, which aims to protect the rights of the coastal people.

 

He says the coastal community is angry at the Kenyan government's long-standing practice of reallocating coastal lands to people from other parts of the country. He says the practice has left the indigenous¹⁰ politically marginalized, landless, and poor.

"We do not even have a national school," said Mwaduzuya. "There are places in Coast Province, where people drink water, not even from a well, but from just a pond. The coastals have had enough of this government. They have had enough of everything. We do not get any share from this national cake."

Kenyans have become deeply concerned in recent months over a resurgence¹¹ of the violence that has plagued past Kenyan elections.

In a run-up to the 1997 polls, nearly 40 people were killed in clashes in Likoni, near Mombasa.

This year, land disputes have already killed more than 140 people in the Mount Elgon highlands on the border with Uganda and tribal¹² politics is believed to be partly behind a string of brutal¹³ murders by the banned criminal Mungiki gang in central Kenya and Rift¹⁴ Valley.

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

3 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

4 inciting   

刺激的，煽动的

参考例句：

• What are you up to inciting mutiny and insubordination? 你们干吗在这里煽动骚动的叛乱呀。
• He was charged with inciting people to rebel. 他被控煽动民众起来叛乱。

5 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。

6 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

7 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

8 secede   

v.退出，脱离

参考例句：

• They plotted to make the whole Mississippi Valley secede from the United States.他们阴谋策划使整个密西西比流域脱离美国。
• We won't allow Tibet to secede from China and become an independent nation.我们决不允许西藏脱离中国独立。

9 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

11 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。

12 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

13 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

14 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。