VOA慢速英语2016--马里北部青年感到被冷落

AS IT IS 2016-09-24 In Northern Mali, Youth Feel Left Out of Progress 马里北部青年感到被冷落

The West African nation of Mali has experienced major changes since 2012.

The changes have included a military overthrow¹ of the government, a presidential election and a foreign military operation against Islamist rebels in the country’s north.

A peace agreement designed to end the conflict in Mali was reached in 2015. But many young people there feel left out of the promised benefits of peace.

Protest and violence

Recently, demonstrations² took place in northern cities such as Gao and Timbuktu. Protesters held signs saying “trop c’est trop” -- the French expression for “enough is enough.” That saying has become the slogan of their movement.

In July, government security forces shot at protesters, killing³ three and wounding more than 30.

The detention⁴ of popular radio personality Mohamed Youssouf Bathily led to more protests. He was arrested for condemning⁵ corruption⁶ in the government.

Adboulaye Coulibaly Fama took part in the protests. He said that the demonstrations showed the deep dissatisfaction of young people in Mali.

“There are many incidents lately which are a sign of a widespread malaise that characterizes the Malian population,” he said. “He [Bathily] should not have been arrested in the first place. His release…shows a weak government - a government which cannot take responsibility - a government Malian people cannot trust.”

Similarly, a young man from Gao criticized Mali’s president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. He told VOA Afrique it is a failure of the government that the city of Kidal is still not under their control.

“The state does not want to take responsibility. I really think these three years have been wasted,” the young man added.

Observers believe that the main concerns in Mali are linked to governance and dissatisfaction with the peace agreement.

Kamissa Camara is an expert on politics in West and Central Africa. She works for the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy.

Camara said that the young people in Mali’s North believe they were important during the crisis of 2012, but largely ignored during the peace process.

“They were protecting communities from the rebels, from the jihadists,” she said. “And because they played such a huge role in stabilizing⁷ northern Mali, when the government of Mali signed a peace agreement with the rebels, the youth thought or felt that they were being put aside. They were sidelined by the agreement when they should have also been part of the peace benefits.”

There is widespread anger among the youth that the former rebels were promised assistance for disarming⁸ and rejoining society. The former rebels received job training and stipends¹⁰ through an internationally-funded process, but non-fighters were largely left out of this process.

Kamissa Camara said the young people are also angry about former rebels being named to leadership positions in Gao.

“The rebels, the people who picked up the arms and raped¹¹ women in northern Mali defeated the Malian army - killed Malian soldiers - are the ones being rewarded when they, the youth, played a positive role in stabilizing northern Mali and didn’t get the result and didn’t get rewarded for that,” she said.

Years of violence in the north have damaged an already weak economy. The World Bank says youth employment is only at 10.5% in Mali.

“What the youth are looking for is to be reintegrated into the civil service, for example, and to actually get jobs the same way these rebels are being rewarded right now,” Camara said.

Youth joining militant¹² groups

The dissatisfaction among the youth in Mali’s north has led some to join militant groups. The militants¹³ offer them pay and a sense of community.

The Al-Qaida-linked group Ansar Dine and the Movement for Unity¹⁴ and Jihad and in West Africa (MUJAO) have repeatedly launched attacks in the north since 2012.

Lori-Anne Theroux-Benoni is a researcher with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) based in Dakar, Senegal. She and a research team from ISS prepared a report called “Mali’s Young Jihadist." The report has testimony¹⁵ from 63 young Malians who are a part of extremist groups, including 19 who are in jail. Its aim was to examine the reasons young people join jihadist groups.

The researchers identified 15 factors that lead to youth involvement. Some of the reasons are emotional, historical or political. In addition, some young people are forced to join.

Theroux-Benoni said the popular belief is that youth often join extremist groups because of religion or money. But she says this is not true for many young people.

“For some of the youth that we spoke¹⁶ with, the reason for joining was to protect cattle in the region of Mopti. For other young people, it was really the fact that the groups were actually providing security and rule of law,” she said.

The report also found that there is a link between unemployment and extremism. But that link is not always so clear. One former extremist joined so he could pay for all the costs of getting married. Another said he joined because he was persuaded by jihadist propaganda videos.

“It’s important not to think of the factors as factors that work on their own. Most of the factors actually interact with each other,” Theroux-Benoni said.

Words in This Story

benefit – n. a good or helpful result or effect

slogan – n. a word or phrase that is easy to remember and is used by a group or business to attract attention

malaise – n. a problem or condition that harms or weakens a group, society, etc.

characterize – n. to describe the character or special qualities of (someone or something)

stipend⁹ – n. a usually small amount of money that is paid regularly to someone

stabilize¹⁷ – v. to stop quickly changing, increasing or getting worse

testimony – n. something that someone says especially in court of law while formally promising¹⁸ to tell the truth

factor – n. something that someone says especially in a court of law while formally promising to tell the truth

1 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

2 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

3 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。

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 condemning   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

7 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

8 disarming   

adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• He flashed her a disarming smile. 他朝她笑了一下，让她消消气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We will agree to disarming troops and leaving their weapons at military positions. 我们将同意解除军队的武装并把武器留在军事阵地。 来自辞典例句

9 stipend   

n.薪贴；奖学金；养老金

参考例句：

• The company is going to ajust my stipend from this month onwards.从这一个月开始公司将对我的薪金作调整。
• This sum was nearly a third of his total stipend.这笔钱几乎是他全部津贴的三分之一。

10 stipends   

n.（尤指牧师的）薪俸( stipend的名词复数 )

参考例句：

11 raped   

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

12 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。

13 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

14 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

15 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

16 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。

17 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

18 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。