VOA常速英语2007-Recent Slaying Highlights Dangers Faced by Journ

By Sarah Simpson
Nairobi
22 October 2007

Paris-based press-freedom group, Reporters Without Borders, says Somalia is the deadliest place to be a journalist in Africa and the situation is deteriorating¹ rapidly. The group's comments follow the shooting death of the eighth journalist killed this year in the besieged² capital, Mogadishu. Sarah Simpson reports from VOA's East Africa Bureau in Nairobi that many Somali journalists are fleeing the country entirely³.

Reporters Without Borders' Head of Africa Division, Leonard Vincent, says violence against journalists is more serious now than it has ever been in Somalia and the situation is rapidly getting worse.

"Clearly 2007 is one of the worst years in Somalia for the press," he said. "In Africa, Somalia is the deadliest country this year for journalists. Of course the situation is really deteriorating - and it is deteriorating because nobody is doing anything."

Vincent wants the international community to intervene to protect freedom of the press in Somalia, where reporters are regularly targeted by all sides of a long-running conflict.

 

Somalia's ruling Islamist movement was toppled in December by the country's secular⁴ interim⁵ government with military assistance from Ethiopia. Since then, the interim government has faced a bloody⁶ Iraq-style insurgency⁷ by Islamist groups bent⁸ on returning Somalia to an islamist state.

Journalists are caught in the middle, says Vincent.

"You are caught in the cross-fire of arbitrary arrests on one side and violence - blind violence - and targeted assassinations⁹ on the other," he said. "Most of the journalists I know from Mogadishu are either in hiding or trying to flee the city."

In the latest fatal attack, leading radio journalist Bashir Nor Gedi, Director of Shabelle Radio, was gunned down Friday outside his home in Mogadishu.

Also on Friday, security forces in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland arrested three journalists and closed Radio Garowe. Though all were later released, one of the detainees, Abdi Fazah, Director of Radio Garowe, told VOA he fears he will be killed.

"Before they released us they said 'If you do like this you will be ... they will take us like action on the journalists in Mogadishu,'" he said.

Many journalists have left Somalia to take exile in other countries in the region. Somali reporter, Abdiaziz Hassan, now in exile in Kenya, says it is never clear which group might take offense¹⁰ to a report, or from where the threat might come.

"At the end of the day, if I reported any issue - whether it is about the government, whether it is about the insurgency, whether it is about another other political stakeholder in Somalia - I may be targeted," he said. "That is [what] forced me to leave from Somalia to any other place I can feel safe."

International media have also come under attack in Mogadishu. Gunmen shot and killed a Swedish cameraman filming a demonstration¹¹ in June.

A state of anarchy¹² has raged in Somalia since 1991, following the ousting¹³ of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre. In the midst of years of chaos¹⁴, observers say the press has long remained vibrant¹⁵ despite harassment¹⁶, beatings, imprisonment¹⁷ and increasingly, death.

1 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

2 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 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。

5 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。

6 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

7 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 assassinations   

n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most anarchist assassinations were bungled because of haste or spontaneity, in his view. 在他看来，无政府主义者搞的许多刺杀都没成功就是因为匆忙和自发行动。 来自辞典例句
• Assassinations by Israelis of alleged terrorists habitually kill nearby women and children. 在以色列，自称恐怖分子的炸弹自杀者杀害靠近自己的以色列妇女和儿童。 来自互联网

10 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

11 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

12 anarchy   

n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• There would be anarchy if we had no police.要是没有警察，社会就会无法无天。
• The country was thrown into a state of anarchy.这国家那时一下子陷入无政府状态。

13 ousting   

驱逐( oust的现在分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• The resulting financial chaos led to the ousting of Bristol-Myers' s boss. 随后引发的财政混乱导致了百时美施贵宝的总裁下台。
• The ousting of the president has drawn widespread criticism across Latin America and the wider world. 洪都拉斯总统被驱逐时间引起拉丁美洲甚至全世界的广泛批评。

14 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。

15 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

16 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

17 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。