VOA标准英语2009-UN Security Council Reflects On A Tragic Failure

The U.N. Security Council has visited a memorial to victims of the Rwanda genocide and pledged support to efforts to end the fighting that has haunted Africa's Great Lakes region for more than a decade.
　
Rwanda Genocide Memorial

The 15 Security Council ambassadors were reminded Sunday about one of the world body's greatest failures during a visit to the Rwanda Genocide Memorial. Honore Gatera, the chief guide at the memorial told them how the United Nations in April 1994 tragically¹ misunderstood the danger as Rwanda's 100 days of ethnic² slaughter³ was beginning.

"The UN Security Council on April 21, 1994 passed a resolution withdrawing the troops of the UN mission in Rwanda and only 270 Ghanains volunteers stayed here with Romeo Dallaire from Canada, and thousands of families were abandoned to the mercy of the killers," said Honore Gatera.

The memorial pays tribute to the Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, who led the UN peacekeeping mission whose messages to headquarters in New York about the developing genocide went unheeded by then Secretary-General Butros Butros-Ghali and chief of peacekeeping operations, the future Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"The reason why we have the memorial here that we'll have for future generations whether Rwandans or foreigners to learn about the mistakes of the past," said Gatera. "Look at the fact that the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at 10 years he apologized for the failure to protect people in Rwanda."

The leader of the Security Council delegation⁴, British Ambassador John Sawers called the memorial evidence of the Rwandan people's determination to put aside the divisions of the past. But it also highlights the world body's shortcomings.

"The memorial site of the 1994 genocide I'm sure has left us all profoundly moved by the enormity of the human tragedy and by the failure of the international community to be able to address it at the time," said John Sawers.

Washington's U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice said the horrors of 1994 in Rwanda, when more than 800,000 people were slaughtered⁵, is more than ever relevant in the 21st century.

"It's a collective failure, including a failure of the United Nations, and what it reminds me of is less the past than the present and what more we could be doing in present circumstances," said Susan Rice.

During their one-day visit to Rwanda, Council ambassadors visited a camp for former soldiers of the FDLR, or Democratic Force for the Liberation of Rwanda, the rebel force that has operated for years from the nearby eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They also met Rwandan President Paul Kagame to express support for his peacemaking efforts with DRC President Joseph Kabila. Mr. Kagame welcomed the Council's endorsement⁶ and vowed⁷ to redouble efforts to bring stability to a region battered⁸ by conflict.

"I think the Security Council team came here having full understanding that we are on the right path and doing these things for the better of our region, and countries Rwanda and DRC," said Paul Kagame. "And the Secrity Council giving their support to the process is important."

Britain's Ambassador Sawers underlined that Council members had not come to the region with demands, but simply to listen; to avoid the kinds of mistakes made by decision-makers looking at Rwanda from New York 15 years ago.

Rwanda was the second stop on the Council's five day African tour. The next stop is the DRC, where ambassadors are scheduled to hold a similar meeting with Congolese President Kabila.

The tour ends Wednesday in Liberia, a bright spot in the world body's checkered⁹ history of peacekeeping. Ambassadors will be talking about the possibility of reducing the size of the UN peacekeeping mission and endorsing¹⁰ the progress toward stability under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

1 tragically   

adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地

参考例句：

• Their daughter was tragically killed in a road accident. 他们的女儿不幸死于车祸。
• Her father died tragically in a car crash. 她父亲在一场车祸中惨死。

2 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。

3 slaughter   

n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀

参考例句：

• I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。

4 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

5 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

7 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

8 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

9 checkered   

adj.有方格图案的

参考例句：

• The ground under the trees was checkered with sunlight and shade.林地光影交错。
• He’d had a checkered past in the government.他过去在政界浮沉。

10 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网