VOA常速英语2007年-Congo's Government Launches Offensive Against R

By Kari Barber
Goma, DRC
26 December 2007
 

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has launched an offensive to root out renegade General Laurent Nkunda and other rebels who control parts of the country's east. Efforts to integrate the general and his rebels into the regular army have fallen apart, and now the military has taken up arms. Kari Barber has more.

Congo's army has had to pull back its forces on several occasions as General Laurent Nkunda's rebels advanced, retaking villages the government had captured from them only days before.

The back-and-forth battle pits 20,000 government soldiers -- with the backing of the United Nations -- against about 4,000 Nkunda loyalists.

Congolese Army Colonel Delphin Kahimbi says Nkunda must turn in his fighters and himself to become part of the regular army. "Anytime now if he accepts it, to give soldiers up, it is finished and the offensive can stop."

Nkunda says he is protecting his ethnic¹ Tutsi minority group from Hutu rebels in the area, some of whom he blames for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

It is the civilians³ who suffer here. They are constantly on the move, fleeing the fighting.

On a hillside above the town of Mushake, villagers wait to see if it is safe to go home. The government recaptured the town just days before.

Villager Mberiko Mwazo recalls, "I remember when the rebels came and they were chasing people and raping⁴ women and we ran away."

At this hospital in the South Kivu town of Minova, many of the wounded arrived after attacks on neighboring villages.

Doctors treated patients with whatever means available.

Another villager, Buhati Bucano, suffered a bayonet wound to his hand. He says, "I was working in the fields when rebels attacked the village."

While the government chases Nkunda, other rebel groups continue to operate in the region.

Theophile Museveni of the Mai-Mai rebels called Perico says his group sprang up because the government was not handling Nkunda. "We are not a negative force. We are patriots⁵ -- Congolese resistance. He is an assassin. There is a difference between those who kill the people and those who protect the people."

U.N. officials say Perico is committing human rights abuses as well and using child soldiers. Rights groups say the Congolese military also has a bad human rights record.

Thousands of U.N. peacekeepers are in the region working with the DRC's armed forces [FARDC], creating a human buffer⁶ between the rebels and strategic towns.

General Indrajeet Narayan, of the United Nations troops, says, "With the FARDC, we have made this line and we have communicated to the negative elements across, 'Do not cross this line - you cross this line and you will get hurt.'"

The U.N. says international troops are there to protect the civilian² population.

About 800,000 people are already displaced from fighting in the region. And many worry the conflict will not be over anytime soon.

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 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。

4 raping   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的现在分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• In response, Charles VI sent a punitive expedition to Brittany, raping and killing the populace. 作为报复，查理六世派军讨伐布列塔尼，奸淫杀戮平民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The conquerors marched on, burning, killing, raping and plundering as they went. 征服者所到之处烧杀奸掠，无所不做。 来自互联网

5 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

6 buffer   

n.起缓冲作用的人(或物)，缓冲器；vt.缓冲

参考例句：

• A little money can be a useful buffer in time of need.在急需时，很少一点钱就能解燃眉之急。
• Romantic love will buffer you against life's hardships.浪漫的爱会减轻生活的艰辛。