2007年VOA标准英语-Ethiopian Foreign Minister Expected to Mediate

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
25 September 2007

Ethiopia's foreign minister is expected to travel soon to Somalia's seat of government in Baidoa to help resolve a deepening political crisis sparked by a dispute between the country's top leaders. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu in our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi has details.

The Ethiopian government has not publicly announced Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin's impending¹ trip to Somalia.

But Somali sources tell VOA that the foreign minister is expected in Baidoa any day now to try and mediate² an end to the political quarrel that began last Friday between Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi.

Since Friday, the president and the prime minister have reportedly been in talks to iron out their differences. But the political crisis has evidently grown serious enough to require urgent mediation³ from Ethiopia, whose troops helped Somalia's U.N.-backed transitional government seize power from Islamists nine months ago.

The Somali leaders, both staunch allies of Ethiopia, clashed after the country's Attorney General Abdullahi Dahir Barre, a close associate of President Yusuf, ordered the arrest of the chief justice of the supreme⁴ court and another judge on corruption⁵ charges.

Prime Minister Gedi called the arrests illegal and fired the attorney general. The attorney general has refused to step down, saying only the president has the authority to dismiss him.

Ethiopia's foreign minister is thought to have good relations with both President Yusuf and Prime Minister Gedi and has mediated⁶ disputes between the two leaders in the past.

Somalia's Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Omar Dhalha tells VOA that members of parliament want to appoint a committee to conduct a separate investigation⁷.

"It is clear there is a problem between the government and the judiciary," he said. "We want to investigate, and I can tell you [the facts] only when we receive full information and when we understand what is going on and what is the reality on the ground."

Meanwhile, VOA has learned that Adan Hashi Ayro, the founder⁸ of Somalia's radical⁹ Islamic youth movement called the Shabbab, has returned to the Somali capital Mogadishu, after he fled the city last year ahead of advancing Ethiopian and Somali troops.

Ayro and several other radical Islamists were targeted by the U.S. military in an Islamist stronghold near the Somali-Kenyan border in January. Ayro was reportedly wounded in one of the attacks but survived.

It is not yet clear if Ayro, who was trained by the al-Qaida terror network in Afghanistan, has again assumed leadership of the Shabbab. Since the Islamic Courts Union lost power, many Shabbab members have been active in the guerrilla insurgency¹⁰ against the interim¹¹ government in Mogadishu and elsewhere.

In Asmara, Eritrea Monday, the newly-formed Somali opposition¹² group called the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, announced that former defense¹³ chief of the Islamic Courts movement, Yusuf Inda'ade, would lead the fight against Ethiopian forces in Somalia.

The spokesman for the opposition group, Zakariya Mahamud Abdi, says that Inda'ade is already in Mogadishu with the insurgents¹⁴, leading the resistance. But residents in the capital largely dismiss that claim, noting that Ayro would not likely tolerate a rival for control of the Shabbab fighters.

The Eritrea-backed alliance, made up of Islamists, deposed¹⁵ lawmakers and Somali diaspora activists¹⁶, have vowed¹⁷ to use all means to expel Ethiopia from Somalia and has taken credit for a string of attacks against Ethiopian and government troops in Mogadishu in recent days.

1 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

2 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。

3 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 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。

6 mediated   

调停，调解，斡旋( mediate的过去式和过去分词 )； 居间促成； 影响…的发生； 使…可能发生

参考例句：

• He mediated in the quarrel between the two boys. 他调解两个孩子之间的争吵。
• The government mediated between the workers and the employers. 政府在工人与雇主间搞调和。

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

9 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

10 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

11 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

12 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

13 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

14 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

15 deposed   

v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证

参考例句：

• The president was deposed in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被废黜。
• The head of state was deposed by the army. 国家元首被军队罢免了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。