VOA常速英语2007-Somali PM Consults With Ethiopian Leaders in Add

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
18 October 2007

Somalia's interim¹ parliament, which was expected to hold a no-confidence vote on Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi's 30-month-old government, is in recess², while Mr. Gedi consults with leaders in Ethiopia. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.

The spokesman for Ethiopia's Ministry⁴ of Foreign Affairs, Wahide Beley, tells VOA that Prime Minister Gedi met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi after Mr. Gedi arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Wednesday.

But the ministry spokesman insists the talks did not focus on the political future of Prime Minister Gedi, who has been accused of corruption⁵ and incompetence⁶, and is now battling moves by Somali interim President Abdullahi Yusuf and the president's allies in parliament to oust⁷ him.

"This is just consultation⁸ with the higher authorities of the Ethiopian government," he said. "They spoke³ about the current events in Somalia, about the TFG and security. There is nothing special about it."

Both the president and the prime minister are supported by Ethiopia, whose military helped install them in power, routing Somali Islamists nine-and-a-half months ago.

But disputes between the two men have grown bitter in recent months, causing deep divisions within Somalia's internationally recognized but unpopular transitional federal government, also known as the TFG.

Last week, 22 ministers in Mr. Gedi's cabinet said the embattled prime minister should face a no-confidence vote in parliament and bring an end to the political stalemate.

But, despite more than a week of debate, lawmakers at the government's base in the town of Baidoa say there is still no consensus⁹ about whether to call a no-confidence vote. Prime Minister Gedi has warned that attempts to oust his government would destroy the TFG and spark another round of civil war in Somalia.

The Somali government is struggling to survive in the capital Mogadishu, where an Iraq-style Islamist-led insurgency¹⁰ and clan¹¹ tensions have kept the government largely unable to function.

Afyare Elmi, a Somali-born researcher at the University of Alberta in Canada, says he believes that even if a new prime minister and a fresh cabinet are named, this is unlikely to reverse deepening grassroots opposition¹² to the TFG.

"In terms of those opposing, they will go ahead with whatever they were doing, definitely," said Elmi. "There is no political process here. The TFG has always existed on the back of outsiders, particularly the international community and Ethiopian forces. So, domestically, the TFG cannot stand by itself. They have to realize that they are going nowhere with the current [political] process."

The transitional federal government is the 14th attempt by the international community to create a functioning government in Somalia since the country descended¹³ into clan warfare¹⁴ in 1991.

1 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

2 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

3 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。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 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。

6 incompetence   

n.不胜任，不称职

参考例句：

• He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。
• She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence. 她觉得，本是老板无能，但她却成了替罪羊。

7 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

8 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

9 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

10 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

11 clan   

n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派

参考例句：

• She ranks as my junior in the clan.她的辈分比我小。
• The Chinese Christians,therefore,practically excommunicate themselves from their own clan.所以，中国的基督徒简直是被逐出了自己的家族了。

12 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

13 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

14 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。