2007年VOA标准英语-Somalia's Islamic Courts Fighters Abandon Kisma

By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi
01 January 2007

Somalia's interim¹ governments says it has captured the Islamic Movement's

Women wait to be brought at a funeral of a family that died from an unknown explosion in Mogadishu, 31 Dec 2006

last stronghold, following a night of intense Ethiopian artillery² bombardment near Kismayo. VOA correspondent Alisha Ryu reports hard-line Somali Islamist leaders and their fighters abandoned their last stronghold early Monday, possibly retreating to a base near the Kenyan border.

Witnesses in the southern port of Kismayo say several thousand Islamist fighters simply disappeared Monday, after Ethiopian artillery pounded their front-line positions the night before in the town of Jilib, 45 kilometers to the north.

Senior Islamist leaders, including the radical³ head of the Islamic Courts Union Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, had retreated to Jilib from Mogadishu last Thursday, after advancing Ethiopian and Somali government troops forced them to abandon the capital they had held since June.

Kismayo-based Somali journalist Nasteex Dahir Farah tells VOA that the port city has descended⁴ into chaos⁵, with gunmen roaming the streets and looting unguarded Islamist weapon depots⁶.

"Kismayo today is tense," said Farah. "You can see people looting landmines⁷, rockets, machine guns. Hundreds of families are fleeing to the Kenya border."

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Islamists, who had controlled the capital and large parts of southern Somalia with a powerful militia⁸, seemed unstoppable in their quest to unite the country under strict Islamic laws and to destroy its rival, Somalia's internationally recognized-but-weak secular⁹ interim government, headquartered in the town of Baidoa.

The Islamists said that their aim was to restore law and order in Somalia, which has lacked a functioning government for more than 15 years. But neighboring Ethiopia and the United States accused some senior Islamist leaders of seeking to form an East African cell of the al-Qaida terrorist network and creating regional instability by accepting military support from Ethiopia's main rival in the Horn of Africa, Eritrea.

Ten days ago, Ethiopia, with tacit approval from the United States, intervened in the Somali conflict, providing massive firepower to cover advancing government troops and forcing outgunned Islamists to retreat and disband.

Somali Journalist Nasteex Dahir Farah says the two top Islamic Courts Union leaders, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, were seen leaving Kismayo Monday morning, heading toward the Kenyan border 160 kilometers to the south.

Aweys has long been on a U.S. list of wanted terrorists. Near the border, there is an Islamist base on a small peninsula called Ras Kamboni, used by Somali radicals¹⁰ to train many of their fighters.

"What we know is that Sheikh Ahmed and Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys fled this morning to the border of Somalia and Kenya," added Farah. "They say they will make hit-and-run attacks. So, people are pretty scared."

Islamist leaders have said that their retreat is a tactical move and vowed¹¹ to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war against Ethiopia and the interim government.

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 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

3 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

4 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

5 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

6 depots   

仓库( depot的名词复数 )； 火车站； 车库； 军需库

参考例句：

• Public transportation termini and depots are important infrastructures for a city. 公交场站设施是城市重要的基础设施。
• In the coastal cities are equipped with after-sales service and depots. 在各沿海城市均设有服务部及售后维修站。

7 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

8 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

9 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

10 radicals   

n.激进分子( radical的名词复数 )；根基；基本原理；[数学]根数

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。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. 现在人们担忧激进分子会变得更加不妥协。 来自辞典例句

11 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。