2007年VOA标准英语-Congo's President Calls For More UN Assistance

By Selah Hennessy
Dakar
28 September 2007

Congolese President Joseph Kabila has told world leaders at the United Nations general assembly that his country, the DRC, needs more U.N. help to disarm¹ and repatriate² foreign armed groups. The speech comes after weeks of unrest in the Eastern North Kivu province, where army troops have battled with ethnic³ Tutsi fighters. Thousands of U.N. peacekeepers already operate in the region.  Selah Hennessy reports from VOA's West and Central Africa bureau in Dakar. 

President Kabila says insecurity in North Kivu must be stopped and that the Congolese people are suffering from daily conflict in the country.

He says Congo needs U.N. help to disarm, voluntarily or by force, repatriate and reintegrate foreign-armed groups.

Despite a U.N.-mediated ceasefire in early September, battles between the army and ethnic-Tutsi fighters have been waged in North Kivu in the eastern region since late August.

The rebel fighters, led by renegade army general Laurent Nkunda, say they are fighting to protect ethnic Tutsis against attacks by ethnic Hutu rebels accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda.

Rwanda's president Paul Kagame also spoke⁴ at the U.N. conference. He said continued insecurity in the eastern DRC is hindering peace throughout the region.

He also said the UN's peacekeeping force in the DRC, known as MONUC, has not done enough to rout⁵ out Hutu fighters.

Bwambale Konokele is a military commander for the dissident ethnic-Tutsi fighters.

He says he would welcome an increase in U.N. forces.

But like Mr. Kagame, he says so far he believes the U.N. is not doing enough to counter ethnic Hutu combatants, known as FDLR, in the region.

"They can do a good job, but the problem is with the government of Congo," he said.  "The government of Congo, it still gives them the wrong information, it does not want them to fight that group of FDLR."

Konokele accuses Congo's army of fighting alongside the Hutu rebels.

"They are mixed, mixed. FDLR and the government they are mixed and then they attack our troops," he added.

But MONUC spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux says the accusation⁶ is unfounded.

"There is no evidence that the FDLR is with the Congolese army," he said.  "As far as we know the FDLR are in their own camps and in their own areas and they are certainly not part of the national army."

He says MONUC is doing everything within its mandate⁷ to disarm and repatriate FDLR fighters to Rwanda.

Congo's government has repeatedly denied fighting alongside the FDLR, while accusing Rwanda's army of backing Nkunda's fighters. Rwanda's government denies the charges.

These charges and counter-charges have been exchanged ever since Rwanda's genocide, and the subsequent flood of refugees, including former fighters into eastern Congo.

Gus Selassie is an Africa analyst⁸ at the international research group Global Insight.

He says it is unlikely that the U.N. will increase its forces in Congo.

"I don't think there is the political will by the U.N. to add more troops given commitments elsewhere, like Darfur," he noted⁹.

He also says the U.N. does not have the personnel to deal with FDLR forces in the east.

"You still get the feeling that the UN is preoccupied¹⁰ with other issues, and it does not have the personnel, the resources, and the stomach to confront the FDLR, unless the FDLR attacks civilians¹¹, villages - that kind of thing," he added.  "The UN is just doing a containing job and not really taking them head-on."

Fighting in eastern Congo is what has led to recent wars in Congo, the last of which caused the death of at least 4 million people, according to most estimates.

1 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

2 repatriate   

v.遣返；返回；n.被遣返回国者

参考例句：

• The government safely repatriates victims.政府安全遣返了受害者。
• In this part,you need to formulate in detail repatriate the plan.在这一部分，你需要制定详细的归国计划。

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 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。

5 rout   

n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮

参考例句：

• The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
• The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。

6 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

7 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。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 preoccupied   

adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式)

参考例句：

• He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice anything wrong. 他只顾想着心事，没注意到有什么不对。
• The question of going to the Mount Tai preoccupied his mind. 去游泰山的问题盘踞在他心头。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。