VOA标准英语2009年-12 Eritrean Footballers Seek Asylum in

The players were reported missing following a regional football tournament on Kenyan soil.

Alan Boswell | Nairobi 18 December 2009

 
 

Twelve players from Eritrea's national football team have sought asylum¹ in Kenya through the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR. The players were reported missing following a regional football tournament on Kenyan soil.

The local Kenyan newspaper The Standard reported today that the Kenyan branch of UNHCR granted the players temporary asylum and directed them to the government ministry² of immigration for processing.

The spokesman for the Kenya police, Eric Karaithe, confirmed that the players arrived at the Nairobi UNHCR office following their disappearance³.

"We are not commenting for the time being," he said. "They have sought asylum and that's about all. But certainly they produced themselves and they went to the UNHCR."

The Kenyan police were contacted by the team's organizer after only 13 out of the 25 players and coaches appeared for the departure flight after the tournament ended on Sunday.

According to a U.N. report, as of September this year, Sudan has taken in 185,000 refugees from Eritrea. UNHCR says that about 1,800 Eritreans per month have been fleeing across the border into Sudan since February 2008. Ethiopia hosts over 30,000 refugees from the Horn of African nation.

Eritrea is ruled by President Isaias Afewerki, a former guerrilla leader who is now known for his totalitarian regime's oppressive policies and heavy crackdowns on dissent⁴. The country of only 4 million has more journalists in prison than any other African nation, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

The country is also currently suffering from significant food shortage due in part to a widespread drought across the Horn of Africa and East Africa region.

Eritrea received its independence in 1993 after a long war against the Ethiopian government.

A report from the Financial Times indicates that the 12 players who have defected include the entire starting line-up of 11 players.
 

1 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

2 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。

3 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

4 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。