2007年VOA标准英语-Clandestine Migration Changes in Mauritanian Hu

By Phuong Tran
Nouadhibou, Mauritania
03 August 2007

Sub-Saharan Africans have been leaving the continent to work overseas since the early 1900s. Many have sought, and found work in Europe. But countries that accepted cheap labor¹ in the past are now turning away migrant workers as they face their own employment problems. That has not stopped some Africans desperate to make a living from trying to get to Europe. But it has made their journey more dangerous. Phuong Tran spoke² with some illegal migrants in the West African coastal³ fishing town of Nouadhibou, Mauritania.

Nouadhibou is one of the closest African ports to Spain and has turned into a hub for would-be migrants

Local officials say more strict surveillance is cutting down the numbers trying to leave illegally for Europe.

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Youth in a migrant detention center in Nouadhibou

At an unmarked detention center surrounded by a one-meter high wall, about 50 West African men sit on army-style beds. Police picked them up when their boat sank off the coast of Morocco. They were trying to get to the Spanish Canary Islands 1,200 kilometers away.

Mo Diallo is a 17-year-old from Mali. He says he is very tired. Diallo says the boat was at sea for three days when the motor died.

Diallo says when the young men arrived at the center, the Spanish Red Cross let each person make a five-minute phone call to let someone know they were alive.

Diallo adds he was scared of dying at sea, but knew God would protect him.

Next to him, 14-year-old Tamba Krin says he left behind his sister and everything else. He says there is no work for his family in Mali, so he had to leave.

Malian migrants Mo Diallo and Tamba Krin

These young boys are among the almost 2,000 migrants caught by local police in Nouadhibou this year.

According to Mauritania's Interior Ministry⁵, the national police prevented more than 11,000 migrants from continuing their journey to Europe in 2006. This year, it says some 4,500 migrants have been intercepted⁶ with the help of the Spanish government, which has provided a boat and plane with night radar⁷ equipment.

But Ahmed Kleib, president of APEAH, a Nouadhibou non-profit organization that has worked with migrants without visas since 2000, says the drop in numbers is only temporary.

Kleib says the youth are committed to leave secretly. Kleib says surveillance cannot solve the problem. He says his center sees youth who are caught and sent home, only to return within the week.

The West Africa Representative of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Mazzitelli, says African organized crime, which runs the escape boats, is changing its routes to avoid police. Mazzitelli says boats now go out further from the Mauritanian coast.

Also he adds, boat operators can buy their way out of getting caught.

"Corruption⁸ all over West Africa is a big problem because people who are not well paid, who are not well motivated easily might accept money in exchange for closing their eyes," said Mazzitelli.

But Nouadhibou's Governor Mohamed Yahya, who oversees⁹ the town's police and gendarmes¹⁰, says his forces are fully¹¹ cooperating with international partners to stop illegal migration¹².

The U.N.'s Mazzitelli says organized, well-financed criminals compound the problem.

 

"There has been the entrance of a new freelancer¹³, or people who have been brought into the business mobilizing or recruiting migrants," he said. "Like in any other business, once that there is an item that sells, then there are people who are ready to sell and promote it."

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Guinean migrant Lansana inside a Nouadhiboun food shack

Lansana, a 21-year-old from Guinea, sits inside a food shack. He says he paid almost $2,000 to take a small canoe to the Canary Islands in 2005. He says his boat sank near Morocco, killing¹⁵ 30 people. He says he was one of 15 who survived.

Lansana says he is trying to leave again, this time for free. He says if he can find four paying clients, the boat organizer will let him go for free.

When asked if he is afraid of another boat accident, he shrugs¹⁶ and replies: "If you do not risk anything, you cannot gain anything." He says he does not see another way to get to Europe, and besides, he adds, "We all have to die in the end anyway."

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 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。

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 intercepted   

拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻

参考例句：

• Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave the hotel. 他正要离开旅馆，记者们把他拦截住了。
• Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave by the rear entrance. 他想从后门溜走，记者把他截住了。

7 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

8 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。

9 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

10 gendarmes   

n.宪兵，警官( gendarme的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Of course, the line of prisoners was guarded at all times by armed gendarmes. 当然，这一切都是在荷枪实弹的卫兵监视下进行的。 来自百科语句
• The three men were gendarmes;the other was Jean Valjean. 那三个人是警察，另一个就是冉阿让。 来自互联网

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

13 freelancer   

n.自由职业者

参考例句：

• He has great interest in working as a freelancer.他对做个自由职业人很感兴趣。
• It's not always easy to make it as a freelancer.做个自由职业人，要能时常感觉满足，可不容易。

14 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

15 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

16 shrugs   

n.耸肩（以表示冷淡，怀疑等）( shrug的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany shrugs off this criticism. 匈牙利总理久尔恰尼对这个批评不以为然。 来自互联网
• She shrugs expressively and takes a sip of her latte. 她表达地耸肩而且拿她的拿铁的啜饮。 来自互联网