VOA标准英语2008年-Ugandan Rebel Leader Wants ICC Warrant Lifted B

A spokesman for the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group says its leader will not sign a peace agreement with the government of Uganda, unless an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest is lifted. As Derek Kilner reports from VOA's East Africa bureau in Nairobi, Joseph Kony, is scheduled to meet with mediators for the peace talks on Sunday.
　
Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, (2006 file photo)

Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, is set to meet on Sunday, with the U.N. special envoy² for the conflict in Northern Uganda, former Mozambiquan president Joaquim Chissano, and mediator¹ Riek Machar, vice³ president of the semi-autonomous southern Sudanese government. They are scheduled to meet along the border between southern Sudan, which is hosting the negotiations⁴, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the rebels are currently based.

But at a news conference in Nairobi on Friday, a spokesman for the rebels, David Matsanga, said Kony would not sign the peace agreement that has been prepared by negotiators for the rebels and the Ugandan government, until arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court, or ICC, in The Hague are lifted.

"The ICC is a stumbling block to this peace process, and that's why we want the Ugandan government to tell us what they want to do with the ICC before we meet general Joseph Kony so that he can make a decision on what to do on the way forward," he said. "It's not yet time for signing the agreement because there are so many contentions⁵ items in the agreement that he wants to look at."

The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Kony and his top deputies on charges of war crimes including murder, forced recruitment of children, rape⁶ and mutilation.

According to Matsanga, Kony also wants to revisit the question of how to disarm⁷ and reintegrate rebels under an agreement.

But the Ugandan government has repeatedly said the negotiations are finished. Kony is welcome to sign the agreement that has already been prepared, they say, but its contents cannot be revisited. In April, Kony failed to turn up at a signing ceremony to lend his signature to the document.

Matsanga also denied reports that the LRA had attacked villages in eastern Congo in the past week.

"LRA have not attacked any parts of Congo in the last two to three months, as far as I know," he said. "They are concocting⁸ it in order to create confusion that we don't reach a peaceful solution on Sunday."

On Wednesday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Congo announced that it was sending troops to respond to the attacks.

Matsanga said he believes Kony is committed to reaching an agreement. But the rebel leader's intentions are notoriously difficult to decipher. And it has often been unclear whether Kony, and those who speak on his behalf, are indeed on the same page.

The conflict in northern Uganda, which has spilled over into southern Sudan, eastern Congo and the Central African Republic in recent years, has displaced some two million people and killed thousands.

 

1 mediator   

n.调解人，中介人

参考例句：

• He always takes the role of a mediator in any dispute.他总是在争论中充当调停人的角色。
• He will appear in the role of mediator.他将出演调停者。

2 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 contentions   

n.竞争( contention的名词复数 )；争夺；争论；论点

参考例句：

• Direct tests on individual particles do not support these contentions. 对单个粒子所作的直接试验并不支持这些论点。 来自辞典例句
• His contentions cannot be laughed out of court. 对他的争辩不能一笑置之。 来自辞典例句

6 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

7 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

8 concocting   

v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的现在分词 )；调制；编造；捏造

参考例句：

• I judged that he was concocting a particularly knotty editorial. 我估计他是在拼凑一篇特别伤脑筋的社论。 来自辞典例句
• 'And you,' returned Sydney, busy concocting the punch, 'are such a sensitive and poetical spirit.' “可你呢，”西德尼一边忙着调五味酒，一边回答，“你却是这样一个敏感而有诗意的精灵。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记