VOA常速英语2008年-Mugabe Says Zimbabwe Will Not Change Course

By Peta Thornycroft
Southern Africa
18 April 2008

On the occasion of Zimbabwe's anniversary of independence, President Robert Mugabe has indicated that both he and his Zanu PF party intend to continue running the country. Mr. Mugabe's independence day speech comes almost three weeks after the presidential election, but the results have still not been released. Peta Thornycroft reports for the VOA.

This was Mr. Mugabe's first major speech since the heavily disputed elections on March 29.

In the address, he accused Britain of fomenting¹ post-election violence. More than 200 people across the country have been assaulted in the last week. They have blamed ZANU-PF for their injuries, according to human rights monitors.

Mr. Mugabe has long accused the opposition² Movement for Democratic Change and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai of being puppets of Britain.

Mr. Mugabe made clear that the status quo will remain. He said whites who thought they could come back and reclaim³ their land are wrong.

He said veterans of the liberation war heard that whites were coming back after the elections and had taken up guns to defend the land. But he said the police are now managing the situation.

He said Zimbabwe will continue to defend its sovereignty and voters in the recent elections should know that the country will continue along the path it has taken since independence.

In the elections three weeks ago, ZANU-PF narrowly lost its parliamentary majority after 28 years in power but 23 of those results are due to be recounted Saturday. In his speech, Mr. Mugabe did not refer to the extraordinary delay in announcing results from the presidential poll.

He did, however, thank the Southern African Development Community for its role in assisting Zimbabwe in holding the presidential, parliamentary, senate and local government elections sumultaneously.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has called on the SADC to ask Zambian President Levy⁴ Mwanawasa to mediate⁵ in the Zimbabwe crisis.

At present South African president Thabo Mbeki is still the mediator⁶ although inter-party talks broke down in December and Zimbabweans went to the elections without the new constitution they had been promised.

Although Mr. Mbeki has called on Zimbabwe's government to release the presidential results, the South African president has also said there is no crisis in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's inflation is now a staggering 165,000 percent, and most supermarkets are running out of stocks.

1 fomenting   

v.激起，煽动（麻烦等）( foment的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They accused him of fomenting political unrest. 他们指控他煽动政治动乱。
• Three sailors were fomenting a mutiny on the ship. 三个水手正在船上煽动叛变。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 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。

3 reclaim   

v.要求归还，收回；开垦

参考例句：

• I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
• You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时，必须出示这张票子。

4 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

5 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。

6 mediator   

n.调解人，中介人

参考例句：

• He always takes the role of a mediator in any dispute.他总是在争论中充当调停人的角色。
• He will appear in the role of mediator.他将出演调停者。