VOA常速英语2008年-Chadian Rebels Face Off Against Army Troops in

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
02 February 2008

Chadian rebels are facing off against army troops and President Idriss Deby in the capital N'Djamena, after a day of heavy fighting in which rebels closed in on the presidential palace. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from our regional bureau in Dakar.

As night fell Saturday, it remained unclear which forces controlled which parts of the capital. Gunshots and artillery¹ could still be heard, but were much more sporadic² than during the day. The last heavy fighting was in the afternoon when tanks encircling the presidential palace started firing in all directions.

An exiled spokesman for the rebels, Makaila Nguebla, who spoke³ to other rebel leaders on the ground, says this did not make any difference. He says rebels were able to keep their positions around the palace. Rebels say President Idriss Deby, wherever he is, should surrender. Nguebla said the rebels were now trying to contain widespread looting in the capital while also maintaining their positions.

But Chadian military officials said rebels controlled very little of the city.

Foreign military observers said it appeared Chadian government forces had regained⁴ parts of the capital as the day progressed.

Whoever was in control, there appeared to have been extensive damage and heavy casualties.

A United Nations security official said he briefly⁵ walked through the streets of N'Djamena and saw many bullet holes in buildings, and burned bodies lying in the streets.

Foreigners were among the dead. The foreign ministry⁶ of Saudi Arabia said the wife and daughter of an employee at the Saudi embassy were killed when a bomb hit the ambassador's residence.

The clashes followed a one-week desert offensive by rebels from their bases in eastern Chad and Sudan to the center of Chad's western capital.

French Defense⁷ Minister Herve Morin said French troops present in N'Djamena as part of a military accord between France and Chad were remaining neutral in the fighting.

He said France had sent over a plane to help evacuate⁸ any foreign citizen who wished to leave.

The U.S. State Department urged Americans visiting Chad to leave, while the U.S. embassy ordered the evacuation of some staff and family.

President Deby, who has been in power since his own coup⁹ in 1990, has faced many rebellions and attempted coups¹⁰, but never to this point.

Rebels, many of them defectors from the army and former top government officials, have been seeking Mr. Deby's overthrow¹¹ since he changed the constitution several years ago, allowing him to run for unlimited¹² terms. Mr. Deby accuses the Chadian rebels of being backed by Sudan, a charge Sudanese officials deny.

Condemnation¹³ of the rebel attacks has been widespread, from African capitals to Europe. Speaking on French radio, the European Union development minister, Louis Michel, strongly condemned¹⁴ the actions of the rebels.

Because of the fighting, the European Union has postponed¹⁵ deploying¹⁶ a planned peacekeeping operation, in Chad and the Central African Republic, along the border with Sudan, to protect displaced people in a region wracked by conflict.

1 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

2 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

3 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。

4 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

5 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

10 coups   

n.意外而成功的行动( coup的名词复数 )；政变；努力办到难办的事

参考例句：

• China has seen many political coups within the ruling class. 中国统治阶级内部发生过很多政变。 来自互联网
• Thailand has had eighteen coups or coup attendance since nineteen thirty-two. 泰国1932年以来有18次政变或参加政变。 来自互联网

11 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

12 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

13 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

14 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

15 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

16 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。