2006年VOA标准英语-UN Refugee Chief Warns Darfur Crisis Threatens

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
08 September 2006

The United Nations High Commissioner¹ for Refugees Antonio Gutteres warns the worsening situation in Sudan's Darfur region threatens to spark another round of mass displacement² that could destabilize the entire region. He is calling for rapid international action to improve security.

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Antonio Gutteres (file photo)   
  
High Commissioner Antonio Gutteres says deteriorating³ security is making it very difficult for humanitarian⁴ agencies to provide even minimum help to some two million people made homeless by the war in Darfur. His spokesman, Ron Redmond, says this bad situation is worsening by the day.

"Mr. Guterres notes that millions of people are already at grave risk and urgent international attention is needed to put pressure on the parties to the conflict and to convince everyone involved on the ground to let humanitarian agencies safely carry out their work," he said. "Lives depend on this, he says, and if things do not improve, we are heading for a major catastrophe⁵." 

Sudanese women walk at the Riyad refugee camp West of the Darfur town of Al-Geneina, Sudan  
  
Sudanese government-backed Arab Janjaweed militia⁶ have been fighting with black African rebel groups for the past three and one half years. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, more than two million people have become internally displaced and at least 200,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Chad.

Since May, a dozen aid workers have been killed and humanitarian convoys⁷ are repeatedly attacked and vehicles stolen. The U.N. refugee agency has six offices and nearly 100 staff in South and West Darfur to carry out its protection monitoring activities. But, Redmond says the situation has become so dangerous, monitors have to use helicopters to get around to see what is happening to the internally displaced people.

"That is becoming ever more difficult to achieve," he said. "There are still disturbing reports of abuses, of rapes⁸, sexual and gender-based violence, killing⁹ people who are unable to leave IDP [Internally Displaced People] camps. So it is a very, very serious situation and the High Commissioner is extremely concerned about it, particularly from the perspective of how we would deal with another massive displacement, were it to occur."

Guterres warns the crisis could increase instability in bordering areas of Chad and the Central African Republic. He notes Chad is hosting more than 200,000 refugees from Darfur and another 46,000 from the Central African Republic. He says the country is close to breaking point.

Sudanese travel on their donkeys as a Rwandan soldier assigned to African Union Mission in Sudan stands guard on outskirts¹⁰ of Thabit, North Darfur  
  
The Khartoum government opposes the deployment¹¹ of 20,000 U.N. troops and police to the Darfur region. In addition, thousands of Sudanese troops have been sent to Darfur in recent weeks. The U.N. refugee agency says this is prompting fears of a major military offensive that could lead to more displacement.

1 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

2 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

3 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

5 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

6 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。

7 convoys   

n.（有护航的）船队( convoy的名词复数 )；车队；护航（队）；护送队

参考例句：

• Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目，直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句

8 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

9 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。

10 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。

11 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。