VOA标准英语2009年-African Help Demobilize Liberian Fighters

African military veterans are in Liberia for a program to help the government meet the needs of former fighters from the country's long civil war.

Liberia's government hopes to benefit from the experience of other African nations that have successfully reintegrated former combatants into society.

Former interim¹ president Amos Sawyer chairs Liberia's Governance Commission. He says the trauma² of 14 years of civil war changed the way people look at the military.

"This war also brought people into the military who, in fact, were not disciplined. So there is a big job out there to even help us change the mentality³ of our people as to how we look at the military," he said.

Sawyer says Liberia's new army is modeling itself not on often ill-disciplined former combatants but on more professional soldiers. He says it is part of a process to help the public see that not everyone with a gun is a soldier and not all soldiers have a rebel mentality.

"We all have to do this thing together because if we don't the relationship between the public and the military will not be a congenial one," Sawyer said.

Former combatants demonstrated last year over delays in retirement⁴ benefits.

William Stephens was a captain in the Armed Forces of Liberia. He says President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's government unconstitutionally disbanded the former government army without consideration for the welfare of veterans.

"Our civil liberties have all been frozen in terms of the manner in which the government did disband the army," Stephens said.

One of the ways the government in Monrovia responded to former combatant complaints was to create a Veterans Bureau to better care for those who served. But even there, Stephens complains members of the former government army were not consulted.

"The government of Liberia had decided⁵ to form this Veterans Bureau when we were agitating⁶ with them without our awareness⁷. We were not a partner accompanied during the passage of such bill." he said.

Dealing⁸ with such a large demobilization of fighters was a challenge faced by Nelson Mandela in post-apartheid South Africa. Lieutenant⁹ Colonel Evariston Tom Seeta works with South Africa's veterans bureau and is in Liberia to help reintegrate former fighters.

"You know a person, an idle hand which doesn't do anything becomes dangerous," he said.

Seeta says the Mandela government looked after demobilized fighters by helping¹⁰ them buy land to farm or get a loan to start a small business or learn a trade.

"Giving a person money today, that money gets finished. But we had to give them certain skills, and we introduced certain institutions whereby they could go for training in these institutions because most of them they didn't have any skills. What they knew is just to hold a gun," Seeta said.

Some 90,000 former fighters have been retrained. Former rebel Teah Jomah learned masonry¹¹.

"I am a professional builder. I build houses for people, and I get my money. And I am so happy I went through the process because now I am a useful citizen of this country. And I don't have to wait for a government job before getting my money. I do my own work and get my money, so I am so happy," Jomah said.

Seeta says Liberia can learn from South Africa's experience.

"These are people who have been out of society. By providing them with skills, that means they will go back to their societies and serve their own communities," Seeta said.

The World Bank, the United Nations, and the Liberian government have offered short-term employment for 60,000 former combatants. But most of the more than 100,000 former fighters disarmed¹² since the end of the war in 2003 remain unemployed¹³ in a country where the United Nations estimates 85% of people are out of work.

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 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

3 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

4 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 agitating   

搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论

参考例句：

• political groups agitating for social change 鼓吹社会变革的政治团体
• They are agitating to assert autonomy. 他们正在鼓吹实行自治。

7 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 masonry   

n.砖土建筑；砖石

参考例句：

• Masonry is a careful skill.砖石工艺是一种精心的技艺。
• The masonry of the old building began to crumble.旧楼房的砖石结构开始崩落。

12 disarmed   

v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒

参考例句：

• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。
• The swordsman disarmed his opponent and ran him through. 剑客缴了对手的械，并对其乱刺一气。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。