VOA标准英语2012--US Military Plans Operations in Africa

 

US Military Plans Operations in Africa

Onboard a U.S. military transport plane ready for takeoff from the airport at Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso are U.S.-trained Burkinabe troops on a training mission to Mali.

The airport is the hub of what the Washington Post newspaper recently reported is a growing operations and surveillance network that the U.S. is setting up across much of Africa.

U.S. officials are not confirming the newspaper’s reports that the military is using small, unarmed turboprop planes disguised as private aircraft to conduct surveillance.

The details of such operations are secret, but General Carter Ham, commander of U.S. forces in Africa, says the missions themselves are not.

“Do we collect information across Africa? Yes we do. But we do that with the consent, first of all, of our ambassador and secondly¹ with the consent of the nations involved,” Ham explained.

The United States military is increasing its focus on Africa as part of President Obama’s new defense² strategy.

That strategy calls for U.S. forces to enable partner nations to deal with security threats in the face of growing activity by militant³ groups, including al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, al-Shabab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria.

About 100 U.S. Special Operations Forces troops have been in Uganda for months, supporting troops from partner nations who fight the Lord’s Resistance Army group, and helping⁴ them hunt for the group's leader, Joseph Kony.

General Ham says the troops’ stay is temporary and the U.S. has no plans to build any new permanent bases in Africa.

“We are not seeking, other than Djibouti, any other long-term U.S. presence on the continent,” Ham added.

Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti is the only permanent U.S. base in Africa, serving as a jump off point for efforts to fight threats in bordering Somalia, across the Red Sea in Yemen and other parts of the Middle East. 

1 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

2 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。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 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。