2006年VOA标准英语-Ivory Coast Identification, Disarmament Slowly

By Franz Wild
Abidjan
24 May 2006

 
Charles Konan Banny greets villagers in Meagui
  
In war-divided Ivory Coast disarmament and personal identification, the two obstacles to elections, saw partial success in a pilot program this week.  There is little sign of the start of full-scale disarmament. 

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Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny launched a pilot identification program from Meagui, in the southwest of Ivory Coast.

The program involves having undocumented residents appear before government magistrates² and local officials.

Mr. Banny says these public hearings are not just the starting point for the identification process, but for all the processes being conducted.  Referring to disarmament, he said that it is important for it to run in parallel.

The processes he refers to are to bring the opposing sides together, disarm¹ the rebel New Forces and southern militias³, and identify the millions of Ivorians without official documents.  All this is to be done before elections scheduled for October, after which President Laurent Gbagbo's term is to expire.

Seven sites were selected where people without documents may apply for a replacement⁴ birth certificate, which they could use to obtain an identity card.  One of the more successful sites was Botro, averaging more than 100 hearings a day.

Doumbia Issa was pleased to be recognized by the state for the first time in his life.  He told VOA having papers would mean the police would no longer bother him.

People in Botro wait to get official documents   
  
He said that he will not have any problems anymore, when he travels.  He said, now when the police ask him where his papers are he can just get them out and present them.  Now, he added, they will just let him pass.

Doumbia's uncle said he may now be able to get a job as he will be able to pass the frequent road blocks without having to pay bribes⁵.

Doumbia, 17, will be too young to vote in October, but he said voting will be an important right for him when he comes of age.

He said, it is important to vote to affirm your liberty.  He said it is an important task, which you must do properly.  In Botro, elders from its 13 villages attended the hearings to confirm that applicants⁶ really were born in the area. Applicants may only register where they were born.

One elder, Assie Kouadio, said they know exactly who is and who is not from their village.

He said in Torako, the village where he is from, he knows everyone and the chief knows everyone.  Nobody, he said, can come and tell them they are from that village or that they are Ivorian if they are not.

While this verification system may be effective in smaller towns, it may not work so well in cities like Abidjan, where there is no way of knowing who was born there and where they came from.

A further issue raised by several would-be applicants is that they are hundreds of kilometers from their places of birth and cannot return, because they are too poor.

U.N. observers, who did not wish to be named, said the identification process would be much too slow to complete the operation by October's planned elections. 

Meanwhile, disarmament did not begin at the same time and there was confusion about when the rebel New Forces would start that process.

A leading member of the New Forces political front, Sidiki Konaté had announced the first step of disarmament in Botro for Monday.  When VOA visited the declared site there was no sign of any activity.

On Tuesday, just more than 100 rebel soldiers came to the site.  The disarmament is also to involve new army recruits.

Prime Minister Banny will review the pilot programs and has indicated that he hopes to extend them to all of Ivory Coast.

The New Forces took control of the northern half of Ivory Coast in 2002, demanding more rights for northerners, who they say are being treated as second-class citizens.  Many Ivorians have never had a birth certificate or lost their papers when they fled fighting.

Mr. Gbagbo's supporters say the rebels need to disarm before identification can take place.

1 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。

2 magistrates   

地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to come up before the magistrates 在地方法院出庭
• He was summoned to appear before the magistrates. 他被传唤在地方法院出庭。

3 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

4 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

5 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

6 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。