2007年VOA标准英语-UN Flood Relief Efforts Stymied in Southern Som

By Cathy Majtenyi
Nairobi, Kenya
22 January 2007
 
watch Somalia Flooding

 
Somalia's interim¹ government says it is in control of Somalia now that the Islamic Courts Union has abandoned key posts across the country. That should have been good news to United Nations aid workers in the port city of Kismayo, who had been delivering assistance to hundreds of thousands of people affected² by severe flooding in southern Somalia in the latter part of 2006. The aid workers had to stop their humanitarian³ deliveries from Kismayo on December 25th following a directive from the Islamic Courts Union. But the aid workers have yet to resume their operations even though the Islamists are no longer in control.

The ouster of the Islamists began in earnest at Christmastime, when Ethiopian troops, which are backing Somali government forces, conducted air raids on various locations in Somalia. The Islamists abandoned their key posts of Jowhar, the capital Mogadishu, the port city of Kismayo and other locations following the air raids and ground advances by government and Ethiopia troops.

The Islamic Courts Union rose up against the interim government in June, saying that they wanted to bring order and stability to chaotic⁴ Somalia. Their forces captured key locations mostly in southern Somalia between June and December.

In the midst of the conflict, massive flooding caused by heavy rains affected more than 155,000 people in the Gedo, Middle Juba, and Lower Juba regions of southern Somalia.

The United Nations had been delivering food and other aid to isolated⁵ communities in the Juba Valley area on helicopters from the Kismayo airport. But those deliveries stopped on December 25th, when the Islamists closed the airport.

The halting of the U.N. helicopter flights, which would have delivered an estimated 250 tons of food and other supplies, was a big blow to aid efforts. In many places, the floods had destroyed or damaged roads, making it difficult to get aid to the affected communities.

Somalia's interim government is now in control of Somalia. But aid workers say they face a new set of challenges in a post-Islamist Somalia.

 
Somalia flood-damaged road
Eric Laroche is the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator⁶ for Somalia. He explains to VOA why airlifts of food and other supplies in helicopters from the Kismayo airport are still not happening.

"We don't have any more activities in Kismayo because it is impossible to go there. The airport, for example, where we used to have our helicopters is taken over by the Ethiopians,” said Mr. Laroche. “Instead of having two U.N. helicopters for humanitarian action, we have eight helicopters from the Ethiopian forces for another type of action. I have been in contact with the Ethiopian (authorities), I have been in contact with the president of Somalia, I've been in contact with the prime minister of Somalia -- trying to advocate for resuming as soon as possible the operation there."

Laroche says he was told that the Ethiopians still need the airport because there are fears that fighters of the Islamic Courts Union have not left the area.  The U.N. official also worries that Somalia may revert⁷ back to "warlord-ism," where factional leaders and their militias⁸ maintain control of different parts of the country. 

"We do not want to work with warlords anymore. Why? Because in the past, in the last 15 years, we had always to go through the warlords to deliver whatever humanitarian assistance. It means that we were obliged to rent the cars from the warlords at $50 a day. The warlords were putting a lot of pressure on us to hire the staff they wanted us to hire, and we don't want that. They were putting a lot of pressure on us to fix the salaries of the guards who would take care of our compound and so on. This is just not acceptable."

In the meantime, some flood and war-affected populations in the Juba Valley area of southern Somalia remain isolated. VOA visited the Juba Valley two days before Christmas and, although the area has become drier since then, people are still in desperate need. In one area, several dozen families had set up shelters consisting of branches, plastic sheets, blankets and other materials.

Fahade Abdella Mute and her five children are among the families living on the roadside after fleeing her village.  Mute explains that at two o'clock in the morning, a big wall of water came roaring towards the village.  "We grabbed whatever we could and ran away. It's a night I'll never forget as long as I live."

Another village, Mofi, was completely cut off from the road network by the floods and was submerged in water for two months.

Village chief Hussein Suleiman Munye describes how the floods have affected the village of 477 families. "All the roads are blocked and we had small sugar cane⁹ farms we used to cultivate with hoes that we cannot cultivate anymore."

Faced with this plight¹⁰, U.N. officials continue to push for access to the Kismayo airport, so that they can begin airlifting much-needed supplies to isolated communities in the Juba region.

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 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

3 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。

4 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

5 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

6 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

7 revert   

v.恢复，复归，回到

参考例句：

• Let us revert to the earlier part of the chapter.让我们回到本章的前面部分。
• Shall we revert to the matter we talked about yesterday?我们接着昨天谈过的问题谈，好吗？

8 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

9 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

10 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。