VOA常速英语2008年-Chad Refugees in Cameroon Return to Their Batte

By Sarah Simpson
N'Djamena
09 February 2008

Many Chadian refugees in neighboring Cameroon are heading back to their capital N'Djamena, which they fled following a failed coup¹ by rebels who attacked the city. But after days squatting² in difficult conditions in Cameroon, they are finding more problems awaiting them back home. During the fighting, many people died, and buildings and homes were damaged. Thieves took advantage of the chaos³ that followed. Sarah Simpson reports for the VOA from Kousseri in Cameroon and N'Djamena in Chad.

Refugees are leaving Cameroon and heading home to Chad by car, motorbike, bicycle, but mostly on foot. A short bridge crosses the river that marks the border.

Many of the returnees, including a young mother who asked only to be identified as Rosinne, spent nearly a week sleeping on the ground under trees, surrounded by their few possessions. Rosinne has had enough.

She says she suffered a lot in Cameroon and prefers to go home and die there. She says she was in Cameroon for five days and did not have any clean drinking water, not even rice.  No one took care of the refugees, she says.  It was worse than miserable⁴.

The United Nations has promised food and toilets for the refugees, but Rosinne is not waiting.

Most of the refugees are heading to Chad's capital N'Djamena, 10 miles past the border. There, large numbers of soldiers patrol the streets in open-back jeeps.

Civilians⁵ in Chad's capital are taking stock of the damage wrought⁶ by fighting between government forces and rebels who tried but failed to force President Idriss Deby from power.

Ahmat Ahidjo, an office worker in N'Djamena, is dismayed at the loss.

He says N'Djamena is broken.  "Everything is stolen, burned, broken," he says. "We have lost our brothers, our sisters and our parents in these events." He says these are the consequences of war, and he is frightened by war.  He says he wants peace.

Young men and boys pick through the smoldering⁷ remains⁸ of the main market, looking for anything they can salvage⁹. Traders say the market was destroyed by a bomb dropped from a government helicopter chasing rebels.

Hundreds of civilians were killed and about 1,000 injured in the two-day battle, according to the Red Cross.

The rebels targeted government buildings. The Ministry¹⁰ of Petroleum¹¹ was robbed of every piece of furniture and finally set on fire.

With the rebels now out of the city, members of the political opposition¹² fear government retribution. Many have already been arrested.

This is not the first time rebels have tried to oust¹³ President Deby. In Cameroon, refugee Boris Behoudim, thinks it may not be the last.

"They told lies to [the] people," he said.  "They promised us that fighting will not happen, that fighting is finished [and] all rebel groups are destroyed. But since the day I realized that rebels groups are still here and they are very, very ready to fight.  They have any guns possible and [are] ready to destroy the government.  I am not ready to go back to N'Djamena."

Behoudim wants peace and thinks it is time that President Deby considers stepping down.

"For us to get peace in our country, maybe our president must leave or maybe he needs to get [another] solution to what the rebel groups are asking for. If not, we are not ready to get peace in our country," he added.

Chad has accused Sudan, its neighbor to the east, of backing the rebels. The coup attempt has disrupted the launch of a European Union peacekeeping force. EU troops have been approved to help protect hundreds of thousands of displaced Chadians and refugees from Sudan's troubled Darfur region sheltering in Chad.

1 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。

2 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》

3 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

4 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

5 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。

6 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

7 smoldering   

v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The mat was smoldering where the burning log had fallen. 燃烧的木棒落下的地方垫子慢慢燃烧起来。 来自辞典例句
• The wood was smoldering in the fireplace. 木柴在壁炉中闷烧。 来自辞典例句

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 salvage   

v.救助，营救，援救；n.救助，营救

参考例句：

• All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed.抢救失事船只的一切努力都失败了。
• The salvage was piled upon the pier.抢救出的财产被堆放在码头上。

10 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。

11 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

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 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。