VOA标准英语2013--Displaced Kenyan Voters Hope for Reconciliation

 

Displaced Kenyan Voters Hope for Reconciliation¹

Ethnic² Kikuyu residents at the Naka displaced people’s camp in the Rift³ Valley were driven from their homes by Kalenjin mobs following the last presidential election in Kenya.

Years later, they are still waiting to be resettled by the Kenyan government.

As the country prepares for the March 4 elections, camp resident Scholastica Wanjiru sees hope in the alliance of Kikuyu presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and his Kalenjin running mate William Ruto.

“It will help us very much because as you can see now they are telling us we are brothers and sisters," she says. "We have seen the fruits of their union and we are all together now.”

While the presidential ticket is seen as a uniting force by some, Kenyatta and Ruto are both charged by the International Criminal Court with crimes committed during the violence that followed the 2007 election, including the displacement⁴ of people.

This area of Rift Valley was hit especially hard. Many of the victims of the post election violence were buried in a nearby cemetery⁵ that sits right on the border between Kikuyu and Kalenjin land.

The two groups have made substantial efforts to reconcile over the past five years, but both sides remain suspicious of each other ahead of next week’s vote.

Douadi Githau Kimani, 67, says the two tribes have always fought each other over land. But he too is hopeful that the new alliance will work.

“If they have really united and agreed and if it’s genuine, I will say it is justice and I’ll forget the past,” Kimani said.

But Nick Omitto, deputy head of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Eldoret, is skeptical⁶ about the real motivation of the camp's residents for supporting Kenyatta and Ruto.

“I think those IDPs are just not being genuine because one: that it is the same group that made them to be in that position. Then two: they are the cause of them being in that position," he noted⁷. " I think the perception is that the two will win and then they’ll reward them.”

Land rights have been a major issue in this year’s presidential race. Residents of Naka camp are hoping that their vote will help bring them new land to farm and a place to call home. 

1 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

4 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

5 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

6 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。