VOA标准英语2014--Atrocities Reported in Northeast Nigeria

 

Atrocities¹ Reported in Northeast Nigeria 

Thousands of people have fled northeastern Nigeria in recent weeks amid reports of atrocities against civilians². The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, says it is increasingly alarmed at the rising level of violence. Nigeria declared a state of emergency in the northeast a year ago due to attacks by the militant³ group Boko Haram.

UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said the latest attacks began in mid-February.

“Over the past four weeks, we’ve seen an additional 2,000 people fleeing this region into the southeast of neighboring Niger. The accounts from these people speak of real atrocities in the region around Lake Chad, which lies on the borders between Niger and Nigeria and Chad. One woman described to us bodies being strewn through houses, floating in the water.”

Many people said they were too afraid to stay behind and bury the dead or look for missing relatives.

Edwards said, “We’ve had some other accounts of shooting in villages there with women and children being kidnapped and taken away. So, it’s really a spreading of this horrible conflict we’re seeing outside of the towns and into some of the rural areas of northeast Nigeria.”

Besides the Lake Chad area, some of the new arrivals are from the Borno state capital Maiduguri.

“It’s hard for us to get full visibility of the situation inside northeast Nigeria, simply because we don’t have the access. And you have to remember that in addition to people fleeing Nigeria, you have got close to half a million people internally displaced inside the country. And that’s according to the government’s figures. So, these are really very high numbers and reflect what seems to be a very alarming situation,” he said.

Since Nigeria declared a state of emergency in Adawama, Yobe and Borno states, nearly 60,000 people have fled to Niger, Cameroon and Chad. Most are in Niger. About 17,000 of them are registered as Nigerian refugees. The rest are nationals from neighboring countries, who’ve been living in Nigeria for many years.

“We’re working together with partners, including the International Rescue Committee, the governments of the neighboring countries, to try and ensure that countries keep their borders open. And then we’re trying to do what we can to help people on arrival,” he said.

 

Edwards said many of those fleeing northeastern Nigeria are traumatized and left with very few possessions.

1 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 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。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。