VOA标准英语2008年-Kenya's President, Opposition Leader Hold Close

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
24 January 2008

The two rivals in Kenya's political crisis met on Thursday for the first time since a disputed election and pledged to seek an end to weeks of unrest that have killed nearly 700 people. President Mwai Kibaki and opposition¹ leader Raila Odinga shook hands and smiled after the closed-door talks, brokered² by former U.N. chief Kofi Annan. Both vowed³ to continue talks until a solution was found. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu in Nairobi has this report.

The news of the meeting between the two bitter rivals came hours after President Kibaki held talks with former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is leading an African Union mediation⁴ mission.      

Late Wednesday, the opposition agreed to Mr. Annan's request to cancel a mass protest planned for Thursday in the Kenyan capital.  Previous protests, banned by the government, have been marked by violent clashes between opposition supporters and the police. 

The opposition accuses Mr. Kibaki of rigging the December 27 presidential election to stay in power for a second five-year term and has demanded the president's resignation and a fresh vote.  The government has ruled out new elections and says complaints about the electoral process should go through the courts.      

Mr. Kibaki has said he is open to talks with his rival, but has repeatedly dismissed the need for international mediation.  Raila Odinga has demanded that outside mediators intervene in the political crisis.

Mr. Kibaki's meeting with the former U.N. chief was reportedly delayed a day to allow the president to spend more time with a close ally in the region, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who arrived separately in Nairobi two days ago to negotiate an agreement between the government and the opposition.

Mr. Museveni's press officer says the Ugandan leader has held talks with both sides and has proposed several options to end the dispute, including a deal to share power, establish a judicial⁵ commission of inquiry⁶ into the allegations of fraud in the vote-counting process, and launch an investigation⁷ into vicious ethnic⁸-based killings⁹ that the government says were planned and orchestrated by leaders in the opposition Orange Democratic Movement, ODM, party.   

That accusation¹⁰ was bolstered¹¹ by a report the New York-based Human Rights Watch released on Wednesday.  The group says it has found evidence that ODM leaders and local elders incited¹² and organized ethnic attacks, mainly on members of President Kibaki's ethnic Kikuyu tribe, in Kenya's western Rift¹³ Valley.

For decades, the Rift Valley has been a hotbed of tribal¹⁴ tensions over land rights.  Those tensions boiled over in the aftermath of the disputed elections, because most non-Kikuyus voted for Raila Odinga, who belongs to the rival Luo tribe.   

One of the authors of the rights group's report, Ben Rawlence, tells VOA there is no evidence directly linking top opposition politicians to the violence in the Rift Valley.  But he says he believes the party's leadership did not do enough to stop ODM leaders at the grassroots level from carrying out their plans.

"In western Kenya, everybody who is anybody is essentially¹⁵ ODM, because political and community structures pretty much overlap," he explained.  "The people were primed before the elections with a lot of incitement¹⁶, a lot of very dubious¹⁷ radio rhetoric¹⁸ and rhetoric during political rallies and campaigning so that a lot of people we spoke¹⁹ to said, 'If Kibaki wins, it is war, no matter how Kibaki won.' So, there already was a sense that they were going to deal with the Kikuyus one way or another."

Human Rights Watch says a quick political settlement is necessary to stop the ethnic violence, but warns it could take decades to reconcile the tribes.

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 brokered   

adj.由权力经纪人安排（或控制）的v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的过去式和过去分词 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• a peace plan brokered by the UN 由联合国出面协商的和平计划
• Your husband brokered the deal to go in, transfrer the assets and get our man out. 你丈夫后来插了一脚，把生意都抢了过去，我们的人也被挤了出来。 来自电影对白

3 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。

4 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

5 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

6 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

7 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。

8 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。

9 killings   

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。

10 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

11 bolstered   

v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He bolstered his plea with new evidence. 他举出新的证据来支持他的抗辩。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The data must be bolstered by inferences and indirect estimates of varying degrees of reliability. 这些资料必须借助于推理及可靠程度不同的间接估计。 来自辞典例句

12 incited   

刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He incited people to rise up against the government. 他煽动人们起来反对政府。
• The captain's example incited the men to bravery. 船长的榜样激发了水手们的勇敢精神。

13 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

14 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 incitement   

激励； 刺激； 煽动； 激励物

参考例句：

• incitement to racial hatred 种族仇恨的挑起
• Interest is an incitement to study. 兴趣刺激学习。

17 dubious   

adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• What he said yesterday was dubious.他昨天说的话很含糊。
• He uses some dubious shifts to get money.他用一些可疑的手段去赚钱。

18 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

19 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。