2007年VOA标准英语-Congolese Accuse UN of Failing to Halt Fighting

By Selah Hennessy
Dakar
05 September 2007

Residents in eastern Congo say the United Nations peacekeeping mission is not doing enough to stop the clashes that erupted this week between the army and renegade forces. The fighting has left dozens dead, and forced thousands of people to flee eastern villages. Selah Hennessy has this report from our VOA West and Central Africa bureau in Dakar.

Julien Paluku is the governor of the eastern region North Kivu, which has been at the center of the unrest.

He said on Wednesday some citizens in the town of Sake formed a blockade, refusing to allow U.N. troops from the peacekeeping force MONUC to leave.

He says the population was angry because they thought the MONUC troops were returning to their barracks while there was still fighting going on.

The citizens said that the troops should return to where the fighting was taking place.

Paluku says it is important that the population has trust in the U.N. and that everyone works together to bring calm to the region.

MONUC military spokesman Gabriel de Brosses says people must understand that U.N. troops do not have a mandate¹ to engage in combat.

"The population expectation is to see probably MONUC playing a more offensive role on the terrain² but that is definitely not our mandate," said Brosses. "We are not carrying out joint³ operations with the Congolese army."

Women and children after they fled their homes in fear due to fighting between the regular army and renegade troops in the DRC region of North Kivu, 03 Sep 2007

He says MONUC is only there to protect the population. He says it is also providing the army with helicopters to transport ammunition⁴ and troops to the east, and to evacuate⁵ wounded soldiers.

De Brosses says fighting has intensified⁶ in recent days and he says dissident fighters instigated⁷ the conflict. The clashes follow failed attempts in the east to integrate Congo's different brigades into a unified⁸, post-conflict army.

Renegade factional leader Laurent Nkunda, a former general in the Congolese army, says the government is attacking his forces without provocation⁹.

"We were in a peace process since January but in the past week we were surprised by an attack on our forces by the government forces," said Nkunda.

Nkunda says he wants peace in the country but the government has refused to negotiate. He also says local ethnic¹⁰ Tutsi populations are being attacked by former ethnic Hutu rebels from Rwanda, which Congo's army has been unable to get rid of. Now, he says, his men are defending themselves.

"We decided¹¹ to protect ourselves and our people and we must die in it even if we are not capable to do many things," he said.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission says up to 10,000 people have fled to Uganda since the recent wave of fighting broke out. U.N. officials have warned that should fighting continue, this number could swell¹² to over 300,000.

1 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

2 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

5 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

6 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 instigated   

v.使（某事物）开始或发生，鼓动( instigate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government has instigated a programme of economic reform. 政府已实施了经济改革方案。
• He instigated the revolt. 他策动了这次叛乱。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

9 provocation   

n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因

参考例句：

• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation.他是火爆性子，一点就着。
• They did not react to this provocation.他们对这一挑衅未作反应。

10 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 swell   

vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强

参考例句：

• The waves had taken on a deep swell.海浪汹涌。
• His injured wrist began to swell.他那受伤的手腕开始肿了。