VOA标准英语2009年-AU Hails Somalia Milestone; Donor Conference Pl

The African Union's peacekeeping force in Somalia has reached 50 percent of authorized¹ strength for the first time, with more reinforcements expected soon.
　
Africa Union peacekeepers man entrance to the presidential palace in the embattled Somalia capital Mogadishu, 23 Feb 2009

Senior AU officials are hailing the arrival of the 4,000th peacekeeper in Somalia. The African Union Mission in Somalia, or AMISOM has an authorized strength of 8,000, but has been operating with only 3,500 Ugandan and Burundian soldiers.

A bomb attack that killed 11 Burundian soldiers last month had prompted speculation² the troops might be withdrawn³. But AU Peace and Security Commissioner⁴ Ramtane Lamamra says the opposite is true. He says negotiations⁵ are underway with Rwanda and other troop contributing countries to bring the force up to nearly full strength soon.

"As we speak we are deploying⁶ a battalion⁷ from Uganda that brings the total strength of AMISOM to 50 percent, for the first time we are above 4,000 so this is quite an achievement ... This is already symbolically⁸ very important despite the terrorist acts directed against AMISOM," he said. "The agenda of the day is to strengthen AMISOM not the other way around."

Lamamra expressed annoyance⁹ at news reports that Somali President Sheik Sharif Ahmed is under pressure to order the AMISOM troops home. Speaking on the sidelines of an AU consultative meeting on Somalia, the commissioner said such information is motivated by either ignorance or bad faith.

"Those statements are basically prompted either by genuine ignorance of what the AMISOM role is or by some pre-judged hostile position toward every friendly force that is likely to be there to make sure that Somalia is actually coming out of its crisis and moving forward to reconstitute its government institutions," he said. "So I would not be worried by the statements either way."

Among those attending the conference were Somalia's defense¹⁰ minister, and his counterparts from several other countries in the region.

AU special envoy¹¹ to Somalia Nicholas Bwakira says there is a strong sense President Sheikh Sharif is making political progress in reaching out to opposition¹² groups that have so far resisted calls to join the rebuilding process.

Bwakira admits security conditions prevent a resumption of humanitarian¹³ operations in Mogadishu. A significant portion of Somalia' eight million people have been displaced, and the United Nations estimates three million need aid.

But Bwakira says the evidence indicates a steady improvement.

"The government security forces and other forces supporting the government are challenging al-Shabab, so Shabab is challenged every day," he said. "A few months ago the reason al-Shabab had to attack was the presence of Ethiopian troops. The Ethiopians have now withdrawn. Then they came up with the idea of Sharia, then Sheikh Sharif said, we will implement¹⁴ Sharia, so they have no grounds to fight, so they have really losing ground as the days go [by]."

Officials say a donor¹⁵ conference is set for April 22 in Brussels to raise funds to help Somalia begin rebuilding. Several countries, including the United States, Britain and Turkey have indicated a willingness to contribute.

Somalia Trade Minister Abdirashid Mohamed Irro says he is in consultation¹⁶ with U.S. and European counterparts about re-establishing the country's once lucrative¹⁷ seafood¹⁸ industry. Somalia has Africa's longest seacoast.

1 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

2 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

3 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

4 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。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

6 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

7 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

8 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

9 annoyance   

n.恼怒，生气，烦恼

参考例句：

• Why do you always take your annoyance out on me?为什么你不高兴时总是对我出气？
• I felt annoyance at being teased.我恼恨别人取笑我。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

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 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。

14 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

15 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

16 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。

17 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

18 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。