VOA标准英语2008年-Sudan's President Heads Abroad With Internation

Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir is set to arrive in Istanbul for a summit meeting on African Turkish economic cooperation. The trip is President Bashir's first outside of Sudan since the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor¹ requested an arrest warrant for him in July. Derek Kilner has more from VOA's East Africa bureau in Nairobi.
　
Omar al-Bashir (file photo)

President Omar al-Bashir is leading Sudan's delegation² to the first Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit, which will feature delegations³ from 50 African nations, including seven heads of state.

The Sudanese president appears unconcerned about the impending⁴ request for an arrest warrant. The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor is seeking charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, for President Bashir's role in the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region.

The court's panel of judges returned from recess⁵ on Monday. But while the court's judges have always approved previous requests for arrest warrants, they are not expected to make a decision for several weeks,meaning the prospect⁶ of a warrant being issued while President Bashir is in Turkey is unlikely. Turkey, like Sudan, is not a member of the International Criminal Court, or ICC.

The Sudanese government has repeatedly rejected any cooperation with the court, and has said its justice system is equipped to handle trials for those accused of crimes in Darfur.

So far neither of the two Sudanese citizens wanted by the ICC have been charged in Sudan. But the Sudanese courts have been hearing cases against rebels who attacked the outskirts⁷ of the Sudanese capital in May.
　
Abdul Aziz Ashr, brother-in-law of Justice and Equality Movement leader Khalil Ibrahim (R), and unidentified co-defendants seen behind bars during court hearing in which the top Darfur rebel and seven others were sentenced to death, 17 Aug, 2008

On Sunday, a court sentenced eight rebels to death, including Abdul Aziz Ashur the half brother of Khalil Ibrahim, who is the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement, which carried out the offensive on Omdurman. 38 rebels have now been sentenced to death for the May 10 attacks, which killed over 220 people.

Verdicts for 20 other suspected rebels are expected on Wednesday. Sudanese authorities are thought to have detained hundreds of Darfurians in the aftermath of the attack. Human rights groups say many continue to be held without charge.

Meanwhile, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur, known by the acronym⁸ UNAMID, said that the Sudanese government has agreed to allow nighttime flights, following the monthly meeting between UNAMID and the government.

UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni said the U.N. had highlighted the importance of allowing airports in Darfur to operate 24 hours a day. The Sudanese government has previously⁹ said the airports are not equipped to operate at night, and the U.N. mission had complained that this was hampering¹⁰ its ability to operate in the region.

"We have told the Sudanese side that we are ready to assist in upgrading these airports, taking the different measures and arrangements to make these airport operational 24 hours in the three states," Mezni said. "And as a matter of fact they agreed on that and we are waiting on the issue with the Civil Aviation Authority"

The recent arrival of troops from Egypt and Ethiopia have raised the mission's forces to nearly 11,000. But this remains¹¹ well below the planned 26,000-strong deployment¹².

According to international estimates, between 200,000 and 300,000 people have been killed in the Darfur conflict since 2003, and some 2.5 million displaced. The Sudanese government says no more than 10,000 have been killed.

 

1 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

2 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

3 delegations   

n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 )；委托，委派

参考例句：

• In the past 15 years, China has sent 280 women delegations abroad. 十五年来，中国共派280批妇女代表团出访。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• The Sun Ray decision follows the federal pattern of tolerating broad delegations but insisting on safeguards. “阳光”案的判决仿效联邦容许广泛授权的做法，但又坚持保护措施。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

4 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

5 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。

6 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

7 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。

8 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 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。