VOA标准英语2010年-Challengers Face Long Odds in Bid to U

Peter Heinlein | Tigray Region, Ethiopia 02 May 2010

With three weeks to go before Ethiopia elects a new parliament, one opposition¹ candidate has been murdered. Another's house has been attacked with grenades. Both incidents occurred in the mountainous northern Tigray region, home of the former guerrilla fighters who seized power in Ethiopia 19 years ago. The heroes of the revolution are facing their first real challenge on their home turf.

 Standing in front of his rural mountaintop home, a 15 minute walk from the nearest road, Ayale Beyene, 28, shows visiting journalists the scars left by a grenade thrown at the house a few nights earlier. He speaks in his native Tigrinya with an interpreter.

"I had just arrived home and heard a loud explosion outside the door. My parents and I were afraid. When my brother went outside, he found a second unexploded bomb," said Ayale.

The damage was minimal², but Ayale says the grenades were just the latest incident of harassment³ and intimidation⁴ he has faced since becoming a candidate for parliament from the opposition Arena⁵ Tigray party.

"Local officials detained me twice for several hours. They took my identification and my campaign materials and accused me of being an Eritrean agent. When they let me go, they wouldn't give back my ID," he added.

While Ayale spoke⁶, a team from the government-run Ethiopian Human Rights Commission arrived to investigate the attack. They promised to issue their findings in a week.

The commission earlier released a report on the murder of another Arena Tigray candidate, Aregawi Gebreyohannes, who was stabbed to death at a bar operated by his family in the town of Shire.

Arena party officials allege⁷ the killers⁸ were agents of the ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) sent to silence the voice of a rising star in the opposition movement. The Human Rights Commission ruled the killing⁹ non-political, saying the death was the result of a bar-room brawl¹⁰.

Five suspects were arrested the day after the murder. One was convicted a week later and sentenced to 15 years in prison. But the victim's brother, Alem Gebreyohannes says the police investigation¹¹ and the Human Rights Commission report are part of a government coverup.

Speaking in Amharic through an interpreter, Alem said the fight that killed his brother was staged.

This was not an ordinary killing. The police didn't try to find out what's behind it. What the witnesses said and what's in the police report are totally different. Then the Human Rights Commission investigated and said there's no political link.

Tigray, and the ruling TPLF, have known adversity.  From its origin as a Marxist guerrilla force in the 1970s, the TPLF waged an armed struggle that toppled the Dergue regime of Soviet-backed dictator Mengistu Hailemariam in a 1991 coup¹².

Tigray was later the frontline state in Ethiopia's war with Eritrea, in which 70,000 people died.  While the region comprises only 6% of Ethiopia's population, 30% of the war dead were Tigrayans.

Roughly 19 years after coming to power, TPLF cadres still dominate the country's decision-making executive committee and the senior ranks of the army. Its top leaders include Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin.

But a 2001 split divided the party. Several senior leaders were ousted¹³. Two years ago a group of them formed Arena Tigray to challenge the TPLF's monopoly on power.

Abadi Zemo was among the early TPLF fighters. He lost an arm in the war against the Dergue. Now vice-president of the Tigray region, Abadi says allegations of ruling party complicity in Aregawi Gebreyohannes's death are smear¹⁴ tactics by a desperate opposition.

"This person Aregawi, people know under what circumstances he was killed. It's been proved. Why are they using this as an issue? Just to make their agenda with false [allegations] and blackmail," said Abadi.

Abadi predicts the TPLF will win big in its homeland.  He says Tigrayans still remember and revere¹⁵ the heroes of the revolution that overthrew¹⁶ the hated Dergue regime.

But former TPLF military commander and Ethiopian defense¹⁷ minister Siye Abraha sees things differently.  He is running this time in the opposition ranks.

Siye admits the TPLF and its regional allies have a tight grip on power, making them virtually unbeatable.  But he says an overwhelming ruling party victory might ironically weaken it, as voters recognize that 19-years of uninterrupted rule is turning Ethiopia into a de facto one-party state.

 

1 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。

2 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

3 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

4 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

5 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

6 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。

7 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

8 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 brawl   

n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂

参考例句：

• They had nothing better to do than brawl in the street.他们除了在街上斗殴做不出什么好事。
• I don't want to see our two neighbours engaged in a brawl.我不希望我们两家吵架吵得不可开交。

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 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。

13 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

14 smear   

v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
• There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。

15 revere   

vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏

参考例句：

• Students revere the old professors.学生们十分尊敬那些老教授。
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven.中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。

16 overthrew   

overthrow的过去式

参考例句：

• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime. 人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。
• They overthrew their King. 他们推翻了国王。

17 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。