2007年VOA标准英语-Displaced DRC Citizens Relocate Amid Lull in Fi

By Kari Barber
Dakar
24 September 2007

Thousands of displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have in recent days fled camps in search of safer and better places to live. Many are arriving in a refugee site called Bulengo, afraid to return home, despite a recent lull¹ in fighting between government and rebel troops. Kari Barber reports from VOA's West Africa bureau in Dakar.

U.N. Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux says a tenuous² calm is being maintained in the eastern region after several weeks of heavy fighting between government troops and forces loyal to dissident general Laurent Nkunda.

Nkunda says he is protecting the ethnic³-Tutsi population living in the area from the Congolese government, which he accuses of collaborating⁴ with ethnic Hutu fighters from Rwanda.

Bonnardeaux says despite the lull in violence, for most of the population it is still not safe to return home.

"Any time there is any kind of fighting, unfortunately it is the population that suffers first," he said.

Bonnardeaux says there have been recent reports of clashes between Nkunda's forces and other rebel groups that operate in the area.

"There are mini clashes here and there, mostly with other forces, not with government forces," he says.

The U.N. Mission in Democratic Republic of Congo says the number of people displaced by fighting in the North Kivu province has passed 300,000 with about 90,000 people arriving at camps this month.

About 4,000 people in the past few days have come to the Bulengo site near the city of Goma.

Jens Hesemann with the U.N. refugee agency says some were fleeing violence, while others were already refugees at other sites, but who left seeking safer and more sanitary⁵ conditions.

"The conditions in the other sites are very difficult, many people living very crowded on top of each other, some people squatting⁶ in school buildings," Hesemann said. "The school buildings are occupied, but the school year has just started and need to be used for school so they cannot stay there."

Hesemann says the site in Bulengo is newer and offers better services than other sites, but he says it is filling up fast. He says the U.N. agency and the Congolese government are looking for new places to keep the nation's displaced.

President Joseph Kabila has said to bring peace to the area, General Nkunda's troops need to be integrated into the regular army. Nkunda has agreed in principal to the integration⁷, however efforts to implement⁸ it in the past have largely failed.

1 lull   

v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇

参考例句：

• The drug put Simpson in a lull for thirty minutes.药物使辛普森安静了30分钟。
• Ground fighting flared up again after a two-week lull.经过两个星期的平静之后，地面战又突然爆发了。

2 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。

3 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。

4 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

5 sanitary   

adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的

参考例句：

• It's not sanitary to let flies come near food.让苍蝇接近食物是不卫生的。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

6 squatting   

v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。

参考例句：

• They ended up squatting in the empty houses on Oxford Road. 他们落得在牛津路偷住空房的境地。
• They've been squatting in an apartment for the past two years. 他们过去两年来一直擅自占用一套公寓。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

8 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。