2006年VOA标准英语-Militants Attack Nigerian Oil Facility

By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
07 June 2006

A militant¹ group in the Niger Delta² Wednesday staged a bloody³ raid on an oil facility seizing five South Korean oil workers and killing⁴ four soldiers.

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Militants⁵ wearing black masks, military fatigues⁶ and carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers patrol the creeks⁷ of Niger Delta area of Nigeria (file photo) 
  

The ethnic⁸ Ijaw militant group, Movement for the Emancipation⁹ of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed responsibility for Wednesdays attack.
 
The attackers destroyed an oil rig, a naval¹⁰ houseboat, a military gunship and killed five soldiers before kidnapping five South Korean oil workers.
 
The group's key demand is the release of a jailed militia¹¹ leader, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari.
 
Some ethnic Ijaw leaders have denounced the latest attack, which came at a time the government has launched an initiative to address long-standing grievances¹² in the region.
 
Oboko Bello is the president of the Federated Ijaw Council, one of the Niger Delta groups involved in the government program.
 
"I'm not denouncing our struggle, our struggle is in place, but there is an attempt….whether they want to solve the problem or not, they are saying they want to solve the problem," he said.  "Give them a chance, when they fail to meet the demand then we will say, look at the demand and look at the offer.  The offer cannot be commensurate with what we have placed before you.  The whole world would be watching."
 
The attack came hours after the jailed militia leader, Dokubo-Asari, who is on trial for treason was denied bail¹³ by a Nigerian court.
 
Bello says the judicial¹⁴ process should be allowed to determine Dokubo-Asari's fate.

"When the thing is an issue of law court, I don't want to conduct myself prejudicial to the process," he added.  "A lot of these things are now issues of the law court. There should be an element of legitimacy¹⁵ in what we are doing. There should be a rule of law."

Since February, MEND has carried out a number of attacks on the oil industry in the delta, forcing the closure of a quarter of Nigeria's oil output. The group insists on the release of Dukubo-Asari as one of several conditions for ending the violence.
 
On Friday, a group of unidentified militants who were demanding jobs and development projects kidnapped eight foreign oil workers from an oil platform off Nigeria's southeastern coast. They were released on Sunday

1 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。

2 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

3 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

4 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。

5 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。

6 fatigues   

n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服

参考例句：

• The patient fatigues easily. 病人容易疲劳。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Instead of training the men were put on fatigues/fatigue duty. 那些士兵没有接受训练，而是派去做杂务。 来自辞典例句

7 creeks   

n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪

参考例句：

• The prospect lies between two creeks. 矿区位于两条溪流之间。 来自辞典例句
• There was the excitement of fishing in country creeks with my grandpa on cloudy days. 有在阴雨天和姥爷一起到乡村河湾钓鱼的喜悦。 来自辞典例句

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 emancipation   

n.（从束缚、支配下）解放

参考例句：

• We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

11 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

12 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

14 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。

15 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。