VOA常速英语2007年-Armed Groups to Meet in DRC Peace Summit

By Selah Hennessy
Goma
22 December 2007

A summit has been called in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to try to bring peace to the war-torn country. Conference organizers say they hope the meeting will initiate¹ a dialogue between the army, renegade troops led by former general Laurent Nkunda, and other armed groups who have battling in the region since August.   Selah Hennessy reports for VOA from Goma. 

The conference is set to take place on December 27 in Goma, the regional capital in the east.

Conference organizers say rebel leader Nkunda will be officially invited to the summit and say his attendance is crucial.

But Nkunda spokesman Rene Abandi says his camp has not yet decided² if it will attend.

Nkunda's guerrilla fighters have been battling against the army and other armed groups in eastern Congo since August.

In early December the army launched a major offensive against Nkunda's militia³, hoping to wipe out the insurgency⁴ once and for all.

But despite U.N. support and a 20,000 strong army, almost five times the size of Nkunda's force, the government has not been able to defeat the insurgents⁵.

Fighting between armed groups, including government forces, has displaced around 800,000 civilians⁶ in eastern Congo.

During this month alone tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee fighting in or near their villages.

Displacement⁷ camps in the region are now over-flowing and many aid agencies have had to suspend delivery of aid due to security risks.

Humanitarian⁸ groups say life will not improve for hundreds of thousands of civilians in eastern Congo until a solution to the current crisis is found.

Aya Shneerson is director of the United Nations aid organization World Food Program in eastern DRC.

"This is the last crisis of so many," she said.  "Really a lot of these people have been running from one place to the other for the last - since I have been here, over two years. There's one old man I've seen in five camps already. We are really hoping that there will be some solution to the conflict so that some kind of normality can go back to their lives."

On Thursday the international aid organization Doctors Without Borders released a list of the top ten most under-reported humanitarian crisis of 2007.

DRC, for the ninth time in the last ten years, was on the list.

The organization says displacement in eastern Congo is leading to serious malnourishment and disease.

1 initiate   

vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入

参考例句：

• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
• They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 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。

4 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

5 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

6 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

7 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。

8 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。