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VOA慢速英语--埃塞俄比亚:“他们的目标是消灭提格雷”

时间:2021-04-25 02:32:23

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In Ethiopia: ‘Their Aim Is to Erase1 Tigray’

Seid Mussa Omar is Tigrayan.

He said only 10 Tigrayans remained of about 400 who worked with him at a hospital in northern Ethiopia. The rest were killed or fled.

Seid's original paper showing his Tigrayan ethnicity was taken away and burned, he said. He showed reporters his new identification paper. It is in Amharic language. It does not mention anything about being Tigray.

"This is genocide ... Their aim is to erase Tigray," he said.

The Associated Press confirmed the same thing happened with nine other refugees. They arrived in Sudan with gunshot wounds and cuts on their backs. They told stories of dead bodies lying along the river. They said women were raped3 and children, weakened by hunger, were left behind.

When reporters asked about the new Amharic identification papers, the prime minister's office said the area is under a temporary administration. It said the people "are all from the region."

"Ethnic2 cleansing4"

Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called what has happened in Tigray "ethnic cleansing." That is when a group of people is being forced to leave an area, often including killings6 and rapes7. It is the first time a top official in the international community has used the term to describe the situation in northern Ethiopia.

Refugees and international experts have accused the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and others of punishing the 6 million Tigrayans in northern Ethiopia. Abiy's mother was Amharan. They said Abiy teamed up with ethnic Amharans and soldiers from neighboring Eritrea to divide the area.

The conflict began in November as a political dispute. Tigray leaders had been leading Ethiopia's government for nearly 30 years. They created a system of ethnic-based states in different areas.

When Abiy took office in 2018, he kept all the power and removed the Tigray leaders. Abiy made peace with Eritrea after years of war, earning a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019.

After last year's election was delayed, Tigray leaders viewed Abiy's government as illegal and held their own vote. The Abiy government then opened a military offensive, saying Tigrayan forces had attacked a military base.

Abiy won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to bring peace to Ethiopia and resolve the conflict with Eritrea. The organization offered the prize to Abiy while warning: "many challenges remain unresolved."

The current fighting seems to be one of those challenges.

"I know the conflict has caused unimaginable suffering," Abiy wrote last December. He argued, however, that the heavy fighting was necessary to hold the country together.

How many have been killed?

In recent days, refugees told the Associated Press that Amharan officials and fighters allied8 with the government took over whole communities. They loaded thousands of Tigrayans onto trucks and took them away. Goitom Hagos, a refugee from Humera said he did not know where they went.

Seid said the hospital he worked for was attacked early in the conflict, so he left. The only people left in the area he once lived in were old people and children. They had been told not to speak their own Tigray language. Only Amharic was permitted.

One pregnant woman, Lemlem Gebrehiwet, had to leave her home because she was told the area was now under Amharan control. She gave birth just three days after arriving in Sudan.

Alem Mebrahtu had been separated from her children. She heard they were in Sudan so she left Tigray to look for them. She said she saw about 50 dead bodies when crossing the Tekeze River, which separates Ethiopia from Sudan. She said she had to pretend to be a different ethnicity in order to cross safely.

"I hope there will be a Tigray for my children to go home to," Alem said.

Beyond the killing5, female refugees from Tigray said they have been raped by male fighters. One man who saw Tigray women being taken away and raped by fighters said: "They do these things openly to make us ashamed." The United Nations said 500 rapes have been reported.

The people who are now safe in refugee camps will not be able to stay there forever. And right now, there is a food shortage. People said fighters burned food in storage in Tigray and destroyed seeds needed to plant new crops.

Abedom, a worker who gave only one name, said: "It was normal to go a whole day without food." He added, "if they take it all, how do I survive?"

Ethiopia's foreign ministry9 said in a statement last week that the government is shocked by the deaths of civilians10. But it criticized "the rush to accuse the government" and called the former Tigray leaders and Tigray forces a "criminal enterprise that had been armed to its teeth."

Words in This Story

genocide - n. the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political or cultural group

erase –v. to remove any thought or memory of (something)

region –n. a part of a country, of the world, etc., that is different or separate from other parts in some way

challenge –n. a difficult task or problem: something that is hard to do

ashamed –adj. feeling shame or guilt11

armed to the teeth – idiom. a way of saying having a lot of weapons or military supplies


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 erase woMxN     
v.擦掉;消除某事物的痕迹
参考例句:
  • He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
  • Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。
2 ethnic jiAz3     
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 raped 7a6e3e7dd30eb1e3b61716af0e54d4a2     
v.以暴力夺取,强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 );强奸
参考例句:
  • A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
  • We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致,不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句
4 cleansing cleansing     
n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词
参考例句:
  • medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
  • Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。
5 killing kpBziQ     
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。
6 killings 76d97e8407f821a6e56296c4c9a9388c     
谋杀( killing的名词复数 ); 突然发大财,暴发
参考例句:
  • His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
  • The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
7 rapes db4d8af84453b45d758b9eaf77e1eb82     
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
8 allied iLtys     
adj.协约国的;同盟国的
参考例句:
  • Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
  • Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。
9 ministry kD5x2     
n.(政府的)部;牧师
参考例句:
  • They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
  • We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。
10 civilians 2a8bdc87d05da507ff4534c9c974b785     
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。
11 guilt 9e6xr     
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责
参考例句:
  • She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
  • Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

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