VOA标准英语2008年-NGOs Warn of Threat to Civilians in Congo

A coalition¹ of more than 60 humanitarian² and human rights organizations says widespread violence continues to threaten civilians⁴ in Eastern Congo, despite a peace agreement signed six months ago. Derek Kilner reports from VOA's East Africa bureau in Nairobi.

In January, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed a peace agreement with more than 20 armed factions⁵ operating in the country's east to end fighting that had displaced more than one million people. The signatories agreed to a ceasefire and to protect human rights and the civilian³ population.

But six months later, numerous militias⁶ are still operating and preying⁷ on civilians.

A report by the Congo Advocacy Coalition, a group of 64 non-government organizations that includes international groups like Oxfam and Human Rights Watch as well as Congolese organizations, says that at least 150,000 more people have been displaced in Eastern Congo since the January agreement. The groups also say more than 200 civilians have been killed, and more than 200 ceasefire violations⁸ recorded in the same period.

According to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Congo, known by its French acronym⁹ MONUC, during the course of the past six months, the number of ceasefire violations has dropped considerably¹⁰, and major clashes between the government and militias have largely disappeared.

But spokesman Sylvie Van Den¹¹ Wildenberg, says this has not led to a drop in human rights violations.

"Even though the incidents are decreasing, and their frequency is decreasing, we keep observing that the situation of human rights and the humanitarian situation are not really improving," she said. "We have increased the access of the humanitarian actors on the ground. But unfortunately we keep observing that the population is very worried and too scared to go back to their village and their place of origin."

The coalition says that women have been particularly vulnerable, with more than 2,000 rapes¹² reported in North Kivu province during the month of June.

The NGOs are calling for the government and the various armed groups to act on their commitments to provide security for civilians in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, near the borders with Rwanda and Uganda. They are also urging the international community to appoint a special advisor¹³ on human rights for the region.

The coalition says humanitarian access has also been constrained¹⁴ by insecurity, with nearly 40 attacks on aid workers this year. It says the 10,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Eastern Congo are spread too thin.

Wildenberg agrees that the mission is stretched, but she says it is doing what it can with the troops available.

"The Eastern Congo is indeed a very huge territory," said Widenberg. "But telling that we are under resourced, we will always be under resourced because we will not ever be able to put one blue helmet behind every single Congolese. So we have to work with what we have. We have now approximately 10,000 troops for the two Kivus and we are trying to do the best we can with what we have."

With the high profile peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region struggling to deploy¹⁵ even half of its forces, an increase in troops for the Congo mission may not be likely.

Eastern Congo has been wracked by years of fighting since Rwanda's ethnic¹⁶ conflict spilled across the border following that country's 1994 genocide. Militias have also fought for control of the area's natural resources, which include gold and coltan, a metallic¹⁷ ore used to make batteries for mobile phones.

1 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

2 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

3 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

4 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。

5 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

6 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

7 preying   

v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生

参考例句：

• This problem has been preying on my mind all day. 这个问题让我伤了整整一天脑筋。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• For a while he let his eyes idly follow the preying bird. 他自己的眼睛随着寻食的鸟毫无目的地看了一会儿。 来自辞典例句

8 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

9 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

10 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

11 den   

n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室

参考例句：

• There is a big fox den on the back hill.后山有一个很大的狐狸窝。
• The only way to catch tiger cubs is to go into tiger's den.不入虎穴焉得虎子。

12 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

13 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

14 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

15 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

16 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。

17 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。