VOA常速英语2007年-Despite Peace Process, Darfur Still Looking for

By Derek Kilner
Nairobi
18 December 2007

In the past year, international efforts to end the four-year-old conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan have included approval of a 26,000-member peacekeeping force; International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Sudanese officials; U.N.-mediated¹ peace negotiations³; and a succession of visits by diplomatic envoys⁵. But as Derek Kilner reports from VOA's East Africa bureau in Nairobi, Darfur will finish 2007 in much the same state it was in at the beginning of the year, waiting for the arrival of U.N. troops, and with millions displaced by the conflict.

In the final days of 2006, Sudan's President Omar Bashir announced in a letter to outgoing U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan that the Sudanese government would begin implementing⁶ a plan to deploy⁷ U.N. peacekeepers alongside an existing African Union force in Darfur. U.N. and U.S. officials expressed hope at the apparent change in Bashir's position, but said they would continue to press Khartoum to follow through.

That task occupied Western diplomats⁸ throughout the year, with a steady stream of international envoys passing through Sudan in a revolving-door effort to convince Khartoum to accept the force. Those making the trip have included new U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon; American diplomats Andrew Natsios and John Negroponte; U.S. presidential hopeful Bill Richardson; France's new foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, and even a group of so-called "elders", including former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

In July, the U.N. Security Council approved a 26,000-strong joint⁹ AU-U.N. force. But the Sudanese government has continued to put up roadblocks in the form of conditions. The government has said it does not want the force to conduct night flights, for example, and has rejected troop contributions from certain countries including Nepal, Norway, Sweden, and Thailand.

Analyst¹⁰ Sally Chin, of the International Crisis Group, says the international community can expect obstacles to deployment¹² of the force to continue.

"What we can predict over the next year is that the government of Sudan is probably going to be just as problematic at each step of the way in terms of deployment of the AU-U.N. force as it has been over the past few months," she said. "So I think we can expect to see continued roadblocks and obstructionism. A kind of one-step forward two steps back situation."

There has also been difficulty in acquiring contributions of military equipment, including helicopters. While the resolution called for the U.N. to take command of the mission from the AU on January 1, U.N. officials say deployment is months behind schedule.

It also appears unlikely that there will be a peace agreement for the troops to enforce when they arrive. The latest round of peace negotiations, mediated by the African Union and United Nations, began in Libya on October 27, but was quickly put on hold after the most influential¹³ rebel leaders refused to attend.

The U.N. Darfur envoy⁴ Jan Eliasson, speaking at the start of the Libya talks, acknowledged the difficulty of the task.

"You have the growing divisions inside the movements and also inside the government," he said. "Many people will say this is a gamble. But I think we had no way. You have to make an attempt to start another process."

While the violence in Darfur has not returned to the levels of 2004, the conflict has grown more complex. Rebel groups have splintered into more than a dozen factions¹⁴.

Additionally, many of the Arab militias¹⁵ backed by Khartoum are fighting each other or rebelling against the government, sometimes in alliance with other rebel groups. Analysts¹⁶ say that as the realignment of Arab groups develops, there could be a significant impact on the direction of the conflict.

For the moment, as Chin tells VOA, moving forward with negotiations will be difficult.

"It is not a cut and dried conflict in that you have a few rebel groups and you have the government," she said. "Because you now have many, many groups caught up in the conflict... Until the factions are able to come to some sort of unity¹¹ of position or unity of leadership, or in the best scenario¹⁷ both, it is going to be very difficult to have any negotiation² whatsoever¹⁸."

Further complicating¹⁹ matters is the fact that any peace agreement will have to take account of the separate deal signed between the government and rebels in South Sudan in 2005, known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement . Analyst Mariam Jooma stressed this point in an interview with VOA in October.

"As much as the rebels would like to see more substantive²⁰ power or more wealth sharing, everything will have to be determined²¹ by whether it is consistent with the CPA and the interim²² constitution ... There has to be a national understanding of the crisis in Sudan," Jooma said. 

Meanwhile, as international peace efforts drag on, the population of Darfur, including the 2.5 million people displaced by the fighting so far, continues to suffer.

Humanitarian²³ aid has been one of the few success stories in the response to the conflict, with mortality rates among those receiving international aid now lower than before the conflict began. But attacks on aid workers have risen over the course of the year, and rights groups have complained that Sudanese police have resumed attempts to forcefully relocate people from camps for the displaced.

The top U.N. humanitarian official in Darfur was expelled from the region in November.

Camp residents and aid workers will be among those watching closely when the U.N. peacekeepers finally begin their long-awaited deployment.

1 mediated   

调停，调解，斡旋( mediate的过去式和过去分词 )； 居间促成； 影响…的发生； 使…可能发生

参考例句：

• He mediated in the quarrel between the two boys. 他调解两个孩子之间的争吵。
• The government mediated between the workers and the employers. 政府在工人与雇主间搞调和。

2 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

3 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

4 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

5 envoys   

使节( envoy的名词复数 )； 公使； 谈判代表； 使节身份

参考例句：

• the routine tit for tat when countries expel each other's envoys 国家相互驱逐对方使节这种惯常的报复行动
• Marco Polo's travelogue mentions that Kublai Khan sent envoys to Malgache. 马可波罗游记中提到忽必烈曾派使节到马尔加什。

6 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

7 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

8 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

10 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

11 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

12 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

13 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

14 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

15 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

16 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

17 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

18 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

19 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

20 substantive   

adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体

参考例句：

• They plan to meet again in Rome very soon to begin substantive negotiations.他们计划不久在罗马再次会晤以开始实质性的谈判。
• A president needs substantive advice,but he also requires emotional succor. 一个总统需要实质性的建议，但也需要感情上的支持。

21 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

22 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。

23 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。